Beautiful Nightmare
by W. Warren
Summary: Once again Kirito, Asuna and Klein are trapped in game, but this time Sinon is experiencing the same feeling. Together friends and lovers try to survive, but will their relationships stay the same after some life-threatening events? (KiritoxSinon)
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note**

This is the first time I'm writing a story, so I hope you don't mind the grammar mistakes (I'm not used in writing in English :p).

I made it a SinonxKirito story because I really love them together ^^. I hope you enjoy it!

Feel free to leave a review.

* * *

Fog covered the area Kirito and I were currently in. It was getting late and a cold breeze touched my face. Dark rainclouds were forming above us. Kirito draw his sword and stood in his fighting pose. He turned his head to me and smiled "Ready for a battle?"

I took out my bow and quickly aimed at a vague figure running toward us. It disappeared. A moment later I heard the sound of swords clashing. It is fast… A six feet tall armoured creature swung his sword at Kirito, who was able to successfully block the attack. This creature let out a loud cry. Kirito pushed him back with all his force and strongly swung his sword at this creature.

I fired an ice-arrow that was very effective. Kirito used his sword skills and managed to drop his health to the red zone. "Just one more attack!"

I could sense that more were coming... vague figures appeared. "Damn they're fast". I tried to hold them back with my arrows, but there were too many. Kirito was able to finish them of, but they kept coming.

"Sinon, watch out!" I quickly turned around and was shocked something was right behind me. Surprised by its large form I couldn't move. Claws were coming closer to my face… I was stunned and closed my eyes, knowing I was not able to avoid this attack. Suddenly I felt someone grabbing me and pushing me aside. "Damn that was a close one, you okay?" I opened my eyes.

The first thing I saw was his face with a worried expression, just a few inches away. The next thing I noticed was that he lay on top of me, causing me to blush right in front of him. He stood up and offered me a hand. Then I saw the wolf-looking animal come closer. I quickly took his hand and held it tightly while I ran to a rocky area nearby.

Raindrops were falling from the air and thunder sounds could be heard. "What now? There are to many of them" Still holding his hand I kept running. Kirito looked behind him and roughly counted that a bunch of small creatures and the clawed animal followed them. "Uhm I didn't expect this coming…"

The rocks were leading us higher in the mountain, but the creatures weren't giving up. "Sinon, let's fight them right here. I will take care of the big one, you have my back?" He let go of my hand and took his sword. I nodded and watched him turn around. As I fired some arrows I noticed that the health of the enemies dropped rather fast. The little monsters were easy to defeat in a few attacks, but the big one was difficult to defeat.

Kirito performed some powerful attacks that reduced his health enormously. Seeing him fight like that with all his force made me realize we couldn't lose. My arrows did some great damage too. With his powerful attacks Kirito was able to take it down with an amazing final blow.

Kirito let out a sigh. "Kirito! That was amazing!" I said running towards him. He smiled at me "Well I couldn't do it without you, Sinon. I have to admit I was a bit worried to pull this of, but I'm glad I could count on you ". Giving him my thanks I hugged him swiftly. "Guess we need to find some cover against the rain". While the bad weather was turning into a storm we found a cave where we could stay until the rain stopped.

We both were soaked by the time we reached the cave. It wasn't very big, but it was a big improvement then staying outside. "I'm glad we found this cave, guess we will stay until the storm stops." While agreeing he took his cloak of. "Man, I really am soaked!".

He got some branches and started to make a fire: "This will help to keep us warm."

It really was cold; maybe I should get closer to the fire…

"Well that really was unexpected, I'm glad we survived. Today is full of surprises isn't it?" Kirito stood up and came to me. "Take it off, I'll hang it over there".

My cheeks reddened and I looked at him awkwardly. He obviously noticed what I was thinking. "Eh no, I mean you… you will get a cold… if you keep it on… I…I don't want you to get sick or something…" Going with his hand trough his hair he looked away.

What should I do? I know he was right, but still… I wouldn't feel very comfortable without it. On second thought it would be a bit weird if I stay like this. "Uhm okay then…" I stood up and gave him my wet green outfit. Despite of the fact I sat near the fire, it still was really chilly. As he put away the part of my outfit he sat next to me. We didn't talked to each other for a while, but he broke the ice.

"You're cold?". "Oh no.., I'm okay" He came closer and put his arm around me. "Wh-What are you doing?!" Again my face coloured red. "You don't have to lie to me. I can see you're shivering!" He always wants to protect me. I led out a chuckle "You noticed ha?". He smiled at me "Let me keep you warm". I rested my head on his shoulder and placed my arms around him. This feeling… why did it felt so good?

* * *

Kazuto texted me, we were planning to clear a dungeon later today. Silica had to do her homework and Suguha was training for a competition she had in a few weeks. It would be just me, Kirito, Asuna, Liz and maybe Klein if he wasn't working late…

When I came home I rapidly ate some rice omelette and took off my school uniform. I grabbed an oversized T-shirt that was hanging over my chair and rested my body. As I lay in bed I took the Amusphere. "Link start!"

"Hi, Sinon!" Klein greeted. "Hi, you made it?" "Yes, there weren't many customers so I stopped early" The door opened and the others came in. The excitement was filling the room. "Hey guys, ready to clear a dungeon?!" Liz shouted when she entered the room. "Well yeah! Let's get going already!" Klein responded while walking to the door. "Not so fast Klein." While pulling him back Asuna distributed some colourful potions.

We were standing before the dungeon entrance, dividing our tasks. Asuna would take care of the healing and… wait…what is happening? My view was getting dark…. Am I being transported?

Where am I? Kirito, Klein and the girls were standing next to me. "What's going on?" Asuna immediately looked at Kirito. Hoping he would know the answer, but even he didn't know how to respond to this situation.

"Guys, what just happened?" Klein said confusing. "Well this is strange…" Liz stated. Kirito opened the main menu. The little screen appeared in front of him. "The log -out button?" Kirito said with a trembling voice. After the incident with SAO I noticed he would always check that when his avatar appeared in game. "What?" Everyone opened the little screen. "No way!" "This can't be!" They all seemed panicked and scared.

But I..I didn't know how to react. All of them had already experienced this feeling. Not being able to log out… It was a scary thought, but this really couldn't be happening… not after the incident with SAO. "Wait, it's probably a bug right, it will get fixed soon?" I looked at them in disbelieve.

* * *

I hear something… a voice? "Huh? Kirito?" I said clearly confused. He was lying next to me and held his hand on my face. Sunlight brightened the whole cave. Wait did I fell asleep? "You are really hard to wake up you know, you must have been tired".

His sweet voice took me back to reality. "The weather is fine today, we shouldn't have any problems getting back."

That's right we completed our mission yesterday, we need to get back to the others. Kirito tried to stand, but I grabbed his T-shirt and pulled him to me.

"Hmpf…. Sinon… wh-what are...?". Thoughts were spinning in my head, but I didn't know what to do. This feeling of being stuck in a game, it made me feel lost…

"Kirito,.. when is this going to end?" As much as I liked playing ALO, I also wanted to go back to the real world. A tear rolled down my face. "Thanks for saving me yesterday." Placing his arms around me he whispered, "Don't worry I will always protect you."

This safe feeling he always gave me, I wish it could last forever.

Arriving at the wooden cabin Kirito and I entered the building. Asuna jumped right in Kirito's arms "Kirito! I was so worried about you! Where were you all this time?!" She was furious at him. "U-uhm…I…" Kirito was obviously taken back by her reaction. "I know you were getting some items for Liz, but you never said you would be gone for two whole days!" Clearly waiting for an explanation, she looked at me.

Guess I will give it a shot. "Well…a thick fog suddenly appeared while we were fighting some monsters and we kind of got lost… When the storm arrived we searched for shelter. We decided to stay till the storm was over."

Asuna looked back at Kirito "Ugh, next time I'll go with you ok? At least then I know you are safe." She planted a kiss on his lips. "You mustn't worry so much about me you know. I can take care of myself…" He defended himself. She gave him a cute smile.

I felt a bit uncomfortable in this situation; they gave me the feeling like I didn't belong here. "Uhm guys, I'm going to stop by Liz. See you later ok?"

"Sinon, wait. I'll go with you." Kirito and Asuna followed me to Liz's shop.

* * *

A customer excited the building. "Sinon! Kirito! You're back!" Liz sparkled from happiness. "I'm glad you guys are alright. You made us worry like hell."

After explaining the situation to her we delivered her the items we gathered from the monster drops. "Thanks guys! This is exactly what I needed. I hope I didn't caused you too much trouble?"

I could sense she felt a bit guilty for sending us on this quest. "Don't worry about it Liz, we also had some fun along the way" I tried to make her feel better, but instead she turned this against me.

"Really? What did you guys do?" With a teasing tone she gave us a playful stare.

Great now I'm the one feeling uncomfortable…

Kirito didn't felt too comfortable himself. "Uhh wh-what are you talking about?!" That only made it worse and gave Asuna the wrong idea. "Kirito?! What did you do to Sinon?" He just babbled some words that really didn't make any sense. I tried to clear the situation "N-no I…I didn't meant it that way!"

Liz started to giggle "I know, I was just joking you know hehe."

Suddenly the door opened and Klein stormed in with a panicked expression on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

A loud bang startled me; I was surprised to see Klein at the door opening. Out of breath he tried to tell us something. Before he could say a word Liz interrupted him. "Geez Klein… rejected by a girl again?"

As Klein looked at us with a serious face and didn't respond at Liz her joke, we all knew something was definitively wrong.

Wondering what was going on with his best friend Kirito stood up and asked him what happened.

"The town is being attacked, we have to do something about it immediately!" he responded. "A gigantic creature appeared and it's attacking players!" We all looked in disbelieve. "What are you talking about?"

Towns were known as the save zones in the game. That means that all sorts off creatures couldn't enter these zones. Not only that, player-killing wasn't able in the save zones. Your health couldn't drop so it was impossible to die. Every player could sleep with both eyes closed in these zones.

"You don't believe me do you?!". He waited for an answer. It wasn't that we didn't believe him, it was just that we hoped it wasn't true. Imagine if it was, there was nowhere to hide anymore. To protect us against the brutal outside world we escaped to this small place and… this feeling of safety would just disappear? No, we couldn't accept that!

Klein took Kirito's arm and dragged him outside. "Then you have to see it for yourself!" All of us followed him to the place of crime.

"This way! Almost there!" He stopped abruptly. "Damn it's faster than I thought".

There it was, as big as Klein said. A gigantic dark coloured figure that reached above the buildings. It had two horns on his head and his red eyes were filled with destruction. Destroying everything on its path it let out a brutal sound that echoed in our ears. We stared at this enormous creature. Swinging its arms around him it tried to catch some flying fairies who where trying to fight it.

"I'm sorry that I doubted you…"

Able to catch a flying player, this giant ripped him apart, dropping his health to zero. "We have to stop it!" Asuna screamed.

Approaching the giant, we grabbed our weapons with the objective to defeat it.

Giving him my first attack I cut a small part of his health. The others swung their swords with all their force. Using all the sword skills they had they tried to defeat it. Again I aimed at the giant and fired my arrows, it exploded when it touched the horned monster from a long distance. Its health dropped by every attack we executed, but it wasn't enough. It didn't drop fast enough! It was stronger than every other creature in this world. We were fighting for a while now but we weren't even able to reduce its health in half!

As exhausted everyone was, we didn't give up, but every minute that went by we saw our winning chances moving downwards. It regenerated rather fast what made it more difficult to defeat it.

"Ah…!". One of the monsters attacks threw Liz a few meters back and she landed on some parts of a collapsed building. Asuna ran towards her "Liz! You okay?". She used a healing spell that recovered her health. Damn that beast can do some great damage. "Asuna, we can't defeat it. Its too strong you must see that too." She looked at the monster with a troubled face. "What else could we do? We can't do nothing! We have to defeat it! If we won't stop it….it…."More players were getting killed. Her eyes widened.

"Asuna! Little help here!" Klein shouted when he got attacked by a poison attack. She immediately pronounced her healing spell.

Another loud cry draw my attention. This time behind me. I couldn't believe my eyes, another one had appeared. It's getting hopeless; the others certainly noticed it too. Is this the place where we all are going to die?

A powerful attack hit Kirito, who lost more than half of his health. My heart kept beating faster and faster.

Klein, Liz and Asuna stood on the other side. They didn't notice Kirito being hit.

Standing at a save distance I could see everything on the battlefield. I immediately dropped my bow and hurried to him. One more hit and it would be over. I can't let that happen! With all the energy I had left I ran as fast as I could. I needed to get there in time! This can't be our end!

With one knee on the ground he had difficulties to stand up. He was badly beaten up. "We have to get out of here." I said as I offered myself as support. He grabbed my arms and was heavily breathing. We searched some cover behind a part of a wall that was left off a building. Sitting down he tried to rest a bit. He was wounded all over his body. "Get out of here? Where do you think we can go?! We can't run and hide forever! Whatever we do they will find us, they will kill us and they will rule over this world as we are no more!"

His emotional voice made the hope in me disappear. I gathered my courage together and looked him in the eyes "You want to give up? Is that what you want?! You're just going to die right here? This isn't the Kirito I know! The Kirito I know will fight with all his strength, will do anything to protect others, especially his friends! And never…never will he give up!" My hands were grabbing his collar very strongly while I had a fierce expression on my face. He had lost hope...

He didn't react to my words, he only stared at me. Green lights surrounded his body. His health increased. I gave him a little push as I moved myself away from him. The others came closer. Asuna gave him a hug "Are you alright?". He nodded as he had his hand on her head.

"Kirito what are we supposed to do?" Liz asked while she also kneeled down.

Kirito looked at me and I could see a little smile forming "We retreat."

"Retreat? What do you mean?" Asuna stated.

"You're saying we are leaving? We're not going to do anything about this horrible event?" a confusing Klein said clearly disappointed in Kirito.

"Klein, it's the best thing we can do in this situation…". Kirito tried to convince Klein, but that didn't work out well. "You mean everyone is dying out there for nothing?! People are getting killed and you only think about keeping yourself save! I'm not like you Kirito, I don't abandon people who are counting on me!" This where his last words as he turned around and went back out there on his own.

Kirito was obviously hurt by his words, but he tried to hide it. He walked away from the scene where still players were trying to defeat the gigantic creature. "We're just going to leave him here?" Asuna grabbed his arm to stop him. Kirito kept looking down at the green grass before him. "We're not the ones who are leaving him. He is the one who decided to stay. He made his choice and I'm not obligating him to follow me… neither am I obligating you to." He followed the green grass and walked off alone.

"He can't be serious about this! Does he even know what could happen to Klein if we just go? He can't make this decision…we have to stay together! " Liz wasn't happy about the current situation and opened her mind to everyone. "Hey! Kirito! You're a coward!"

"Liz calm down...listen I will convince Klein to come with us, okay? Please keep an eye on Kirito when I'm gone." Asuna opened her wings and flew back to the battlefield.

"Wait Asuna!" Liz screamed after her. "Don't worry Liz! We will catch up with you in no time!" She gave us a wink and made a sign with her hand as she said goodbye. "I can't believe it, she just went off…" Asuna's decision didn't make her any happier.

"Come, let's catch up with Kirito. Knowing Asuna she will be okay. They don't call her Lightning Flash for nothing." I grabbed her hand as we ran towards Kirito. "Kirito! Wait for us!" I yelled after him.

"She went after Klein didn't she?" Kirito asked slightly disappointed. I confirmed the fact that she went back to talk to Klein. "I hope they will be alright…"

* * *

We walked in an area with dark grass and wild trees. Different kind of flowers filled the area and the sky was light blue with some white clouds. The temperature was perfect: the sun warmed my skin and a calm breeze swung my hair forwards. No monsters to be seen. Why did it look all so peaceful all of a sudden?

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Kirito offered his hand when we had to climb over a fallen tree to go further. Was it so obvious that I was amazed by this place? I felt ashamed that I had these thoughts in a situation like this. A war had started and it's far from over...and here I am...thinking about the beauty of this place. I ignored his offer and jumped off the fallen tree on my own. Liz on the other hand didn't mind to take his hand when she jumped off the tree. "Hey Kirito… I'm sorry…I called you a…coward… I-I didn't mean that. I know you were only trying to protect us..." She had a hard time getting those words over her lips. He told her not to worry about it and he said he understood her reaction. Suddenly Liz slipped over a mossy rock and Kirito who stood next to her was able to catch her and prevented her from falling.

My eyes investigated every step they made. He was asking if she was alright... She expressed her thanks... Urrgh it's getting a bit too comfortable over there… uhm why am I even thinking about this? They are just having a friendly conversation... nothing more... Kirito... Argh why can't I get him out of my head?

"Sinon? You okay? What are you waiting for?"

Lost in my thoughts I didn't notice I didn't continued to walk forward while Kirito and Liz were already far ahead from me. "Uhm n-nothing! I-I was just thinking about something…." I fastened my steps till I reached them.

"You have to stay concentrated you know, I don't want to lose you in this mess" I felt a bit flustered by his words and a red colour appeared on my face. Well its you're fault to begin with... I observed Liz staring at me. I hope she didn't notice what I was thinking.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Liz questioned Kirito. He let out a sigh; this wasn't the first time she had asked it. "We're almost there."

When we left the battlefield we decided to go to a place where we could stay. Fortunately Kirito knew a cave nearby. It already was getting dark and it would be bursting with all sorts of monsters in no time.

"Well this is the place….what do you think?" He didn't expect an answer. The fact was that we couldn't see anything. It was already evening and the cave was as dark as it could be. I took my bow and my fire-arrow lightened up the walls. "It's save…."

"Finally! I'm exhausted." Liz sighted while she sat down on some leaves she gathered together.

Kirito already made a fire in the middle of the cave and I shared some food I gathered near the cave. We all made ourselves comfortable around the fire. It was like this morning never happened.

"Kirito, do you have a plan?" I interrupted the friendly chatting between Kirito and Liz. He looked down for a second, but then faced me. "I'm not going to lie… I don't know what we should do….but I know we made the right decision to not stay there. And I promise you, I will think about something and I will get us out of here." He seemed confident about that, what made me a bit relieved. I was happy to hear that answer.

"Listen it's already late, you should get some rest." He said with caring eyes looking at me. "You too Liz". He stood up and went to the entrance of the cave. "Don't worry, I will guard the cave."

Liz immediately closed her eyes. Of course she did, it was a hard day for all of us. My eyes examined Kirito sitting on a rock near the entrance. He looked pretty tired himself. I too was very tired, but I didn't want to sleep yet…

I put my hands on his shoulder as I stood right behind him. I saw something was bothering him and wanted to be a listening ear. He touched my hands and pulled me closer.


	3. Chapter 3

Time went by and I still couldn't get to sleep, however after this long and exhausting day I was tired. My eyelids were getting heavier and could close every minute, but still something was keeping me awake.

I observed Kirito, who was staring outside at the place that was slightly brightened by the moonlight. I joined him and had a look outside, the view was quite amazing. It was a bit chilly out here in comparison to the other side of the cave that was heated from the fire. My eyes caught a glimpse of Liz who appeared to be sleeping when I looked back for a moment.

Noticing his troubled face, I felt worried. I carefully placed my hands on Kirito's shoulders. "Hey, Kirito, are you alright?" My whispering words broke the silence.

He placed his hands onto mine and held them tightly while he pulled them downwards. I froze when my fingers touched his chest. My heartbeat sharply fastened as my body touched his, giving me a feeling of warmth. I felt his hair touching my face and I noticed a tear falling from his eye while he still was staring outside.

I sat down, right next to him with my arms still around his upper body. He immediately dried his tears with his sleeve. "I'm sorry" he sad with a broken voice and his watering eyes. His grip loosened and he let go of my arms as he stood up, walking forward and stopping right before the entrance as he leaned against the side of the cave. "Kirito?..."

Approaching him I grabbed his arm and turned him around. In an instant I had his back in my arms. With his hands positioned on my lower back he put his head on my shoulder.

This moment seemed to last forever, yet I knew it was only a few minutes. Nonetheless it felt great to hold him like this, he gave me a lovely feeling and I was happy to be here for him.

While bending a bit backwards he put his hand on the side of my face and looked me straight in my eyes.

Blushing at him I stared back in his sparkling black eyes, noticing he was trying to hold back his tears. He looked so fragile.

"Thank you Sinon".

"What are you thanking me for? I-I didn't do anything" I said softly with a trembling voice and a nervous look on my face.

A smile appeared on his face. Moving towards me I could feel his warm breath on my neck. Suddenly I became very nervous.

"Thanks for being here with me and to have faith in me" he whispered in my ear.

My body temperature rose when he held me like this, I wasn't sure how to react. His hands were holding me in a comfortable embrace. My heart was beating wildly. I wondered if he could feel the pounding of my heart.

He began caressing my jaw, his finger tops sliding on my cheek. All I could do was stare at him, heating up every second he held me.

He closed his eyes and planted his lips on my forehead giving me a gentle kiss. I took a deep breath, but before I could say something he moved his fingers to my lips telling me to not say anything. I only led out a muffled sound. Replacing his hand he lifted up my chin. "You should get some sleep, don't worry about me, I'll be okay." He said abruptly, then took me by the shoulders and slowly turned me around giving me a little push in the direction of the other side of the cave where Liz was sleeping silently.

What just happened?

"Ah! You don't think you can get rid of me that easy do you?" I reacted a bit furious.

He looked at me with a straight face.

"Listen… If you need someone… I'll be here for you." I finally said. I stepped towards him. "Please…don't keep it to yourself. I don't want to see you hurt like this."

"Sinon…"

He looked a bit amazed. I hope he realizes that it's better to talk about it. A little smile appeared on his face and he nodded. It really looked like he needed someone to talk to. He grabbed my hand and we stepped outside.

We sat down in a field of grass, still near the cave. We decided that this would be the best place to talk to each other without disturbing Liz with the probability to wake her up. We had a clear view from out here so if there would be enemy's nearby we would notice it.

Kirito let out a sigh and was struggling how to say things while he was fooling around with a small piece of grass in his hands. I was waiting patiently for him to say the first words that made any sense but even after a while the situation didn't improve. He had a hard time talking about this.

"It's about this morning, isn't it?" I started the conversation. He looked down when I let out these words.

"I-I just wish I handled the situation differently…".

I grabbed his hand "You made the right decision to leave that battlefield Kirito. There is no way we could have defeated them."

"Yeah I know that but I just regret how I left Klein…and eventually Asuna too. Maybe if I stayed a bit longer I could have convinced Klein to come with me. Then Asuna wouldn't have to go after him." He went with his hand trough his hair "Argh I was so stupid!".

I understood how he felt…I actually felt the same when we left them there, thinking about what more I could've done. "Maybe, but I don't think you could have convinced Klein at that moment. He seemed very persisted about staying there. And to be honest he shouldn't have said all those things to you."

"He was right you know, how could I abandon all the players who were giving all of their strength and their life's in that battle? "

I leaned a bit forward "You only made that decision to protect us. We all know that, even Klein". Suddenly I noticed that I was close to him…to close….

I immediately sat straight and forced a cough. "Anyways it wasn't possible to get all of them out of there, so please don't feel like you did something bad. It was only natural to react that way. All of them knew that it was impossible to defeat those bosses. By the way you were not the only one who left that place. Many players followed your decision after you left. I saw them leaving, so you actually saved a lot of lives. I hope you realize that."

"Thanks Sinon, I never thought about it that way." He lifted up his arm and moved his hand downwards and looked relieved. The little menu-screen appeared right before him with his friend list opened. He shoved the little screen to me and pointed at it. "Their names are still there. They probably found a place where they can be save for tonight."

I looked at the small screen, where names were listed in alphabetical order. The first name that was on it: Asuna. He scrolled the page, Klein's name was there too. "I'm glad they are alright…"

Kirito suddenly surprised me. As he leaned forward he put his hand on my mouth pushing me backwards. Falling on top of me in the long cold grass. "Kirito…?"

"Shhh, be quiet Sinon." While whispering these words he came a bit closer. "Kirito?"

"Don't talk." Again he placed his fingers on my mouth. I heard some breaking twigs and heavily breathing sounds… Some monsters were nearby? The cracking sounds faded after a while. They probably just were passing by.

Kirito lifted his head "Listen, we should get back inside, its saver there than out here."

"Uhm Kirito…?"

He looked at me wondering what was wrong. I looked away, his eyes following me."Uhh! Uhm, uhm I'm…I'm so sorry!..." He immediately jumped back and bowed his head when he noticed he had his hand placed at my chest. His face colored blood red and he looked very uneasy.

I held my arms protectively against my body.

"S-Sinon..?"

Exhaling I stood up "Why are you looking at me like that, you idiot! Don't just stand there, we need to get back …"

"Uh r-right!" He stood up with a straight back like I was giving him a commando and started walking to the cave.

"Don't say a word about this alright,… just...just forget this ever happened…" I still felt uncomfortable while we walked towards the cave and I couldn't stop blushing. Kirito led out a small chuckle. "Wh-What are you laughing at?!" I said confused while trying to scratch him with my claws. Unfortunately he was able to avoid my attack. "Hahah I'm sorry Sinon, it's nothing. I just thought you looked cute there for a moment."

I gazed at him with a confused and red expression on my face. "Wh-What are you saying?"

"Do you want me to repeat that?" He said teasingly while we reached the cave.

Sighting I ignored his answer. "Listen, get some sleep I'll take the first shift… and I won't take no for an answer, you hear me. I'll wake you up when I get tired, alright?"

It seemed like he wanted to go against my proposal, but eventually he nodded. He patted me playful on the head as I watched him walking towards the fire, lying down in a comfortable sleeping position.

This time I was the one who was lonely staring outside the cave with my bow next to me. Guarding the cave so Kirito and Liz could be save and get some rest.

My thoughts went back to what just happened. Urgh that idiot…well at least he felt a bit better after the talk we had I guess. I couldn't help watching him sleeping so peacefully. Uhhh why am I… why am I staring at him? My eyes couldn't let go of him and my mind made me crazy. Flashbacks of he gently holding me came back to me. Aargh just forget him Sinon!

My attempts to forget him failed. I couldn't get him out of my mind.

"What are you so frustrated about? You seem like you can punch someone in the face."

Uhh? Lost in my thoughts I didn't notice Liz standing next to me. Surprised by her sudden approach I didn't know what to say. I needed some time to come back to reality.

"You know… It's not very helpful to guard the cave if you keep daydreaming…Want me to take it over for you? You seem like you need some rest yourself."

It was stupid to reject her offer. I tried to stay awake, but I barely could keep my eyes open. After accepting Liz's offer I walked deeper in the cave and lied down on a warm bed of leaves and placed myself in a comfortable position. This feels so great…. I'm exhausted….

* * *

"Hmmpff….."

Ah what's happening? I turned around and opened my eyes. Kirito?

"Why are you poking me? I'm trying to sleep, leave me alone." I immediately turned back in my original sleeping position en closed my eyes again. However I still felt someone finger touching my cheek and I was hearing laughter sounds. "Hey stop it!" I pushed his hand away and again tried to fall asleep again. Still hearing him laugh a bit.

"Hey sleepyhead… It's already morning, time to wake up. The sun is shining and we have a long way until we arrive at the next town."

Morning? He must be joking. I just went to sleep… yeah I'm going to ignore him. Hmm I hear him leave, that's good. Finally some rest.

"Sinon, last chance… time to wake up…"

He's back? Unbelievable! Argh just leave me alone, I'm trying to get some rest…

"Guess she isn't going to wake up… Well it's her choice."

Splashing sounds drew my attention, that hit me in a few seconds.

"Ahh! What! What are you doing?!" Chocked by the cold water that was thrown on me, I stood up and gazed at Liz and Kirito who were obviously amused.

"Liz you did that?"

"Hehe yeah, I had to find a way to wake you up you know and Kirito wasn't doing a great job himself." Her eyes rolled towards Kirito, who tried to defend himself.

"Oh it isn't my fault that she wouldn't wake up, I did my best…"

"Well my idea was clearly better hehe" Her eyes went back towards me and on the look on her face I saw that she was really enjoying herself.

"Hey! This isn't funny you know! I'm totally wet! Have you any idea how this feels?" With my arms crossed over my body I tried to warm up a bit, but still was shivering because of the ice-cold water that covered my body.

"Hahhah don't worry about that, the sun is shining so you will be dry in a few minutes." Kirito pointed outside.

"Hmmpfff". I lifted up my arm and was aiming to hit him, but decided to let this go. I crossed my arms again. "Either way; what were you saying? We are going to the next town?"

"Yes Liz and I already discussed this. Until now we only have seen two of those monsters and from what we know they are out to attack areas where players are gathered together. If there are only two of them nearby we can warn the players who are located east, where the nearest town is located from here."

"Hmm alright… but what if that town is also being attacked? Then what should we do?"

"We hope that's not the case but if it is I think it would be best to observe their attacks and try to find their weak points. And also get as many players as possible out of there."

"Right sounds like a good plan".

Huh? I heard something outside; Kirito and Liz heard it to. We went outside to find out what was going on.

A group of people were standing like 30 metres from us. I wondered what they were doing. Sounds like they were having an intense discussion.


	4. Chapter 4

Stepping out of the cave the intensive light of the sun blocked our view. With our hands covering the bright light we spotted four men in brown cloaks, which covered their faces. They were standing in a little circle on a small hill, not far from us.

The moment we were noticed they immediately stopped their heavy discussion. We couldn't exactly hear what they were saying, but we were sure some of those men forced their voices.

Obviously we interrupted something, in an instant it was quiet and they turned their faces our way. Still we weren't able to identify these persons as their hoods hided their faces and the shadow concealed their eyes. They stayed like that for a moment; it felt like they were investigating us. Their eyes were fixated on us, yet they weren't the only ones.

We gazed back with no clue what was going on. What were they up to? I noticed no red sign floating above their heads, so luckily they weren't red players, who are known to be player-killers. The man in the middle, the tallest of all, whispered something to his comrades, who nodded affirmative.

A black glove touched my shoulder. "Stay here, I'm going over there". Kirito stepped forward, heading to the small hill. Liz stopped him by grabbing his long sleeved jacket. "Listen be careful, I'm getting a strange vibe from them." The pink haired girl said. I tapped him on his shoulder. "Maybe we just need to get out of here before we get in trouble or something, Liz is right something isn't right here". Kirito gave us a look like he understood, but still wanted to find out what was going on.

One man lifted up his head and his lip corners moved upwards turning into a strange smile. The others turned around and disappeared out of sight as Kirito came nearby.

No sound came out as the tall man moved his lips. What was he saying and to who was it addressed to? Was it directed to me? Or was it my imagination and did he say it to all of us. He waved his hand and turned around, disappearing out of eyesight.

Kirito almost reached them; he was climbing up a small but steep hill. I must find out what was going on. Moving my feet faster and faster I reached the hill in no time and climbed it too.

Reaching the top I saw Kirito standing in the middle of the open place. I ran towards him and when I reached him I pulled his sleeve "Did they leave?".

His eyes were fixated at a certain area. I became aware of the fact that he held his sword in his right hand. With his teeth gritted he had a fierce look on his face. Did he fight them? "Why did you follow me I told you to stay there!"

His hard and loud words catch me off guard, I felt a bit hurt, but also knew that something triggered this anger inside him. His expression changed. As he put his sword away, he placed his hand on my shoulder "I'm sorry I didn't mean to say it that way."

Liz accompanied us "Guys what happened?". Kirito immediately responded as she came and then walked away without further explanation. "They were already gone at the time I reached the top."

The blacksmith switched her attention to me "Sinon what happened?". She noticed something more was going on, but I couldn't give her an answer and lifted up my shoulders.

"Hey Kirito where are you going so fast!? Wait for us!"

I ran towards Kirito and Liz still thinking why Kirito reacted so curt. I walked trough a pink field of flowers that covered my sight as far as my eyes could reach. Soft fluffy blooms were touching my legs as I came closer to Kirito and Liz, who were waiting.

"Kirito, what happened back there?"

"What do you mean? Nothing happened, like I said they were already gone."

I grabbed his arm abruptly stopping him from moving away.

"Uhrr Sinon what's wrong?"

"Why wont you tell us?"

"You don't believe me do you? Listen there is nothing to worry about okay. Right know we have to focus on getting safely to that town."

Liz grabbed his collar strongly and had a force look in her eyes "Listen you better tell us or else…"

He led out a small laugh "Liz... you too?" While Liz kept staring at him, Kirito broke free from Liz's grip as he moved her hand away.

"Why are you two reacting so weird? There is nothing to tell all right, nothing happened. How many times do I have to tell you? I don't know where they went, it looked like they just disappeared when I arrived on top of that hill."

"And you find that normal?"

"Of course not, but there's nothing we can do about it right? They are gone, just forget them. It probably was just a coincidence we even ran into those guys."

Kirito walked further in the extensive field of flowers with his hands in his pockets, acting like we made a big deal out of it. However I definitely wasn't pleased with that answer. He's hiding something, I know he is, but why doesn't he want to talk about it?

Along the way we came across some creatures, easy to defeat low-level monsters to be precisely. Strangely it wasn't as hard as we expected it would be. Experiencing the powerful and frightening bosses yesterday made us worry that the normal monsters levelled up also. Luckily this wasn't the case. They were defeated easily and dropped some items as usual. The sun was bursting. My skin felt so hot. No shadows to be seen as far as I could look. Kirito bended and sat down on his knees, feeling the fatigue taking over his body.

"Why are you stopping?" I said slowly with breaks after every word as I was heavily breathing, noticeably exhausted from hours of walking in the heat.

He let out an enormous sight, with his arm covering his forehead, protecting himself from the heat of the sunrays. "Maybe we should take a break."

"Pfff I'm melting! Who could have thought it would be sooo hot today? Uhh". Liz plummeted down next to Kirito.

"This isn't the time to take a break, we are wasting time. Cmon get up!" I pulled Liz up with my hand under her arm, but she wasn't really cooperating, making me sweat some more. As much I wanted to rest it wasn't a good idea to do this right know. We had to reach the town before nightfall.

After a few other hours slandering all sweaty across a grassy field that followed the pink flowers view we saw the first buildings, the town was still intact. Seems like it hasn't been attacked. I let out a relieved sigh and was happy to finally reach the town.

Some kids ran before us, all laughing and playing tag in the streets. Happiness could be red on their faces. Stands with people offering food and other items were set up the whole street. Everywhere I looked people were acting very relaxed, living their normal lives in game.

As it was getting dark lamps and lampions lighted up the street, while cheerful music was playing on the background and people were dancing joyful at a square at the end of the street. A pleasant vibe was floating in this town. Liz's eyes sparkled as she pointed at the festival that was taking place "Hey guys let's take a break and join the feast!"

"Not today Liz, I'm really tired. I don't think I'm up for this tonight."

"What? Ohw come on Sinon! We will have a great time! We deserve this after today." Pulling me at my sleeve. "Ah wait Liz, I mean it…"

Kirito placed his hand on Liz her shoulder. "I'm with Sinon on this, I don't feel like dancing and all that stuff… By the way I'm really hungry and thirsty. I'm going to eat something at a bar or so. We also should be able to rent a room there." He pointed at a building where a sign hung out which meant they served drinks and food."

"Ohw guys you really leaving me alone?" Her sad face made me feel a bit guilty, however her expression changed rather quickly. "Well then, see you later!" She went off with a big smile on her face waving her hand a little.

While Kirito and I entered the building with the sign hanging above the door we immediately went to the counter where a man was serving drinks. The place was crowded. All the round wooden tables were occupied; no place to take a seat anymore. Music was playing trough the speakers and some men and women were dancing in the right corner.

"I hope they still have a room left" I could barely hear him; the chatting of the people dominated this place. Struggling trough the people we finally reached the bar. Kirito tried to call a bartender, but eventually he just put his hand up. They all were busy with serving people with all sorts of food and drinks. After a few minutes one noticed Kirito.

"What will it be?" Once Kirito was done ordering a large menu, he asked me what I would like to eat. I told him I didn't need any; this place was a bit too crowded to quietly eat a nice meal. Besides I just needed some rest.

"Hey, do you still have a room free? " Kirito pointed at a large poster hanging on the wall. "Uhm just a moment…" A little screen appeared as he swept his hand over the counter. "Well I guess you're lucky we still have a room left. It's the last one." He swept the screen towards Kirito. He placed his hand on it. Numbers appeared on the screen while Kirito's credits decreased and a card floated in the air with a we-hope-you-have-a-nice-stay message above it.

As the card appeared I snatched it before his eyes "I'm going upstairs".

"Uhm alright, then I'll accompany you when I'm done eating, you really don't want something?" He filled his mouth with the food that was right before him.

"No thanks, see you in a little while then".

After I reached the back of the crowded room, I opened the door, where a staircase led me to the upper floor that wasn't light too well. Only small lights above the doors made the room numbers visible. After wandering halfway trough the hallway I finally found the room that matched the number on the card. With this small item the door unlocked and opened. Lights automatically turned on and the room was fully lighted.

A large bed in the middle of the wall on the left side filled the most part of the room, with two nightstands on each side. On the other wall a small closet with some drinks and glasses on it and a little fruit basket. Furthermore two chairs around a square coffee table at my right.

At the wall in front of me another door, must be the bathroom. I closed the door behind me and opened the other door. Indeed just like I thought. A small white room with a bath and a sink. I turned the tap, where heated water flow out. Placing my bow at the wall I took off my boots. After that I began to undress myself. Placing my clothes on a little table next to the sink. Returning to the warm bath I noticed myself in the mirror. Looking at the other me made me realize I'm still stuck in this game. It must be almost two weeks already…

I imagined the real me in this reflection of mine. Since that day we never received an announcement or a reason why we were stuck in this game. Not only the log out button disappeared but also some other mechanisms disappeared. One that troubled players most was that teleportation wasn't possible anymore. Long distances must be done on foot or we could use our wings, but they wouldn't last long. Another annoying adjustment was that we couldn't message other players anymore, for the rest small changes that our possibilities in game lessened.

Nonetheless we all new what was going on, death could mean the end of our real life… First we weren't sure about this, but when the situation didn't change after a few days we knew this was the case. If it were just a bug, they would have fixed it at the moment they noticed this was going on.

I positioned my body in the warm water and closed my eyes. Don't think about this know I said to myself. I just wanted to relax. Scenes from this morning flashed before me. Who where those guys? Kirito… why are you acting so mysterious? When I came climbed that hill they were already gone…. Did they teleported themselves? No that can't be possible, none of the players were able to, however it was a large field. How could they disappear so quickly?

* * *

Stuffing himself full with all the food on his plate, he ordered another drink. "You must be a lucky guy" The bartender, dressed nicely in a black and white suite, offered him another glass. Kirito looked at him with a clueless look on his face.

"Oh man seriously? Haha I'm talking about that pretty girl from earlier. It must be nice to have a beautiful girl on your side."

"Ah Sinon you mean, hehe yeah uhm she is a nice friend".

A large smile appeared on his face. "Yeah right… just a friend ha?"

"Uhm can I ask you something? Do you know about the incident that took place yesterday?".

"You're talking about the big bosses who entered the safe zone, don't you? Everyone knows, something as important as that... well news travels fast. Especially when it's the first big event that happened after the log out button disappeared."

"Hmm no offence but why does it look like you all don't care? Aren't you afraid that the same thing can happen to this town? I mean nobody is paying attention to this so it seems."

"Haha you're saying we have to drown in fear? We can't live like that, imagine that everyone loses hope, why would they even try to survive?"

"Oh sorry, I just thought it was weird…"

"Don't worry, we all are well prepared. We have lots of players standing by if such thing would appear. No way we will lose to those beasts!" Filling Kirito's empty glass he turned to another customer who was ordering a large menu for all of his friends, sitting at a large table. Kirito slug down his drank in one gulp, placing it with force on the counter and standing up.

* * *

Lying relaxed in the bath I forgot my worries. Suddenly a small but noticeable sound drew my attention, I immediately looked at the door, still closed and nothing else seemed strange. However I didn't felt too comfortable. I stood up and took a towel placing it around my body. Again that same soft sound echoed in my ears. I stepped towards the door, listening very carefully. "Kirito?" No answer… "Liz, is that you?" Still no answer…. "Hello?" I swallowed nervously, my hand reaching the doorknob slowly. I definitely heard something….


	5. Chapter 5

The moment I opened the door I quickly scanned the room from left to right. My eyes went from the seats around the coffee table to the door, that was apparently still closed, and then I turned to the large bed against the wall. Nothing did seem out of place nor was anyone here, then what did I heard before? Was it my imagination? Maybe I am to tense.

A loud bang next to me startled me. My attention was drew by the light-coloured curtains that were moving strongly because of the window that was forced open. A gust of wind was blowing very force trough the room and the sound of heavy raindrops could be clearly heard. Looks like a huge storm is on the way. While holding the handle of the window with my hand the cold wind blew my two blue fangs back and forward as I saw people running towards the buildings searching for cover. In the distance I could see the lightning in the sky. After I had closed the window I placed my back against the wall so I had a view over the whole room again. My thoughts wondered off to Liz, who I hoped to be okay. I hope she is already headed to the hotel or found a place where she's safe.

I probably need to get changed before someone stumbles in here as I looked at the towel that was the only object that covered my skin while remembering it was almost closing time for the bar and that Kirito could walk in here every moment from now on. Hurrying to the small bathroom I took a light-blue top of soft fabric and a grey short.

As I was dressed I turned back to the main room and I saw Kirito sitting in the dark blue seat before the coffee table. "Oh hi Sinon" He gazed at me, not that I disliked it, but he made me uncomfortable.

"What are you looking at?", throwing my towel in his face, "Now hurry up and freshen up" I walked towards the bed and dropped down on the soft cloth with my head in a fluffy pillow that I held with my arms around it. "I'll be waiting for you so hurry up". After hearing the sound of a door closing I closed my eyes. I could easily fall asleep like this if I wasn't so tense.

A while later I felt a soft cloth moving over my back. I didn't notice someone walking in the room. Moving my head a bit I saw Kirito in his black T-shirt and grey jogging pants putting the sheet from the bed over me. The room was quite dark, Kirito must have put the lights out. Only the lamp on the side of the seats was turned on. Kirito gave me a gentle smile "I thought it would be more comfortable".

I appreciated his gesture and smiled back saying my thanks. Something crossed my mind and I wanted to ask him about it. He started to walk away from me, heading towards the other side of the room, wanting to lie down in the two-person seat where a pillow and a blanket have been put. Quickly I grabbed his hand delicately, my fingers softly touching his.

Not moving an inch he was staring at me with wondering eyes. I tightened my grip of my left hand and slowly pulled him a bit closer. He sat down on the side of the bed.

I was still holding his hand, for some reason I didn't wanted to let it go. "You don't have to sit all the way there you know". Even though the long walk made us tired and the dark clouds made it look like it was evening, it was still a bit too early to sleep.

"Uhm well I thought… uhm… well I don't know…I just…"

His fast way of speaking gave away his nervousness. He kept searching for the right words to say, but nothing he said made any sense. It was kind of cute. Although it would be better to change the subject.

"Hey Kirito, do you think we are safe here?"

"To be honest I can't give you a clear answer, but don't worry. I'll protect you. He patted me on the head almost touching my cat ears. "I'll do everything to keep you safe"

I replied with a thankful smile. Although he comforted me when he said he would keep me safe, I still felt a bit uneasy. The fact is that I didn't felt very secure since I heard that noise before. I had the feeling someone was in this room. Should I tell Kirito? That would only make him worry more, I don't even know someone was actually in this room, I doubt someone could break in; it must have been my imagination.

"Sinon did something happen while I was away?"

Did he sense I was afraid of something? I didn't want to answer the question he asked me. As I let his hand loose I moved a bit away from him and lied down on my back. "I can better ask that question to you, you know."

I felt his hand on my shoulder. "Alright, I understand". His fingers glided in mine as he lay next to me. I thanked him while feeling my cheeks warming up. Fortunately he stared at the ceiling, not noticing my blush. He obviously knew something was bothering me but that I didn't want to talk about it. Instead he talked about the things he discussed with the bartender. After he was done talking about what he was told I asked him about the random events that were taking place.

"So why do you think these creatures are attacking the safe zones of al places? It doesn't make sense right?"

"Well.. It doesn't make sense to me either, but I think someone likes to play with our lives. It's probably very amusing to the persons who hacked this game….letting people get killed…" Kirito's voice changed saying this sentence. While his anger increased I felt his grip on my hand getting stronger. Once he noticed he let my hand go as he turned his face towards me. "Oh uhm I'm sorry..."

My eyes met his bright black eyes…he was so close to me. I could feel him breathing. Only my hands next to me filled the space between us. I kept gazing in his eyes. Is it okay for me to have this feeling? This feeling… I have never felt it before… It was so warm, so pleasant,…so… He isn't moving, but I have the feeling the space between us is getting smaller and smaller. Without thinking I placed my hand on his chest, which made me feel his fast heartbeat. My face must probably see as red as it could possible be, I tried to escape this awkward feeling. "N-no it's alright! That just the situation we are in right now! You were being honest, I appreciate that!" Argh I want to hit myself! This was so awkward! It was too late for me to respond to him wasn't it? After that long silence? I just want to run away… pretending this never happened… Then why isn't my body moving? Instead I asked him something without thinking. "H-hey Kirito… could you hold my hand until I fall asleep?"

I felt his hand softly on mine, which I forgot to withdraw from his chest. I quickly withdrew my hand and turned on my back, nervously staring at the dark ceiling while he did the same. "I-I'm sorry I didn't…' I felt so stupid. I ask him to hold my hand, then I let go of it when he touched it! He must think I am weird… His fingers touched mine again, holding it in a firm grip. I looked at him trough my eye corner. He didn't say a word.

Although the safe feeling he gave me I had a hard time falling asleep. The storm didn't calm down, the sound of thunder repeated multiple times. Above that the rustle of wind made cracking sounds to the whole building and I heard the trees shaking madly. I wonder if Kirito already fell asleep, but I didn't dare to turn around and risk the fact of waking him up. Even if he wasn't supposed to sleep next to me I still felt his hand on mine… actually I wouldn't mind it…him sleeping next to me. He gives me a safe feeling, but thinking about him makes me more nervous then I already am. Hmpf need to fall asleep….

* * *

A small but strong light emerged between the small gap of the curtains, making my face feel warm. As I slowly opened my eyes Kirito was still laying next to me. I pulled myself in a sitting position and took the sheet with me. I glanced at the peaceful sleeping boy next to me. His eyes slowly opened as he woke up, stretching his arms yawning. With a sleepy expression on his face he pushed himself up and he swept his hand before his eyes, then looking around the room. He made a small sound when he noticed he fell asleep next to me. Being in shock he turned around facing me with a nervous chuckle. "Oi Sinon! I'm sorry…hehe"

"Well you seemed to sleep very peacefully didn't you?" I glared at him planting my eyes on him and crossing my arms. "Uh I-I didn't mean to…" He bowed his head to me again saying sorry. He slept next to me...way too close..., but I just couldn't blame him. "You were exhausted…I'll forgive you this time, but don't dare to do it again alright?"

"Yes m'am!"

I placed my hand before my mouth before I chuckled. I actually liked it teasing him like that.

While he got out of bed he opened the curtains, making the sunlight lighten up the room. "Looks like the storm is over… I hope Liz found a place to stay. We should wait downstairs for her."

I already had opened the bathroom door and walked in, hearing his voice in the distance. After picking up my clothes and putting them on I went back to the main room where I saw Kirito, who also had changed in his black clothes and who was giving me a warm smile. "That took long…"

"Ah what do you think I'm a girl! You…" Before he let me finish he proposed to go downstairs, which I had to agree.

After descending the stairs, we saw Liz sitting behind a table, in the bar that now was as good as empty besides a few customers and a young man sitting next to Liz.

"Liz! I'm glad you are all right. You made us worry." I ran towards her giving her a strong hug.

"Hey guys! Yeah I'm sorry it was really hectic yesterday. But more importantly I want you to meet Kurou. He was with me yesterday, I offered to help him when I saw him getting people to safety. Kurou these are my friends that I told you about."

After introducing ourselves, Liz told us that Kurou helped Klein and Asuna when they were fighting the undefeatable monsters in town. Then he also travelled to this town as the previous town wasn't even recognizable anymore. After hearing this Kirito immediately questioned him.

"Kurou you were fighting those strong bosses too? What happened? Do you know where Asuna and Klein are?" With a strong voice and bending forward he put his hands into knuckles and placed them at the table. Kurou definitely got our attention. Finally we are able to discover what happened after we left that horrible place.

"I'm sorry I can't say were they are right know, we parted ways a while ago. I assume you have a lot of questions. Get a seat, I will tell you everything that happened."

While Kurou and Liz took a seat at the opposite site on the square wooden table, Kirito and I had a seat too. We listened carefully as Kurou told his story.

"Alright then… As you know monsters appeared at the town that supposed to be a safezone. That triggered a lot of fear in people's minds. To avoid further chaos some players tried to defeat them, but as you can guess it was like a warzone, a lot of players were fighting those powerful creatures, but it was impossible to put an end to it. Unfortunately many players died trying to kill those bastards. The situation deteriorated only after minutes. There was no way of stopping them. We were fighting with no hope to win. The damage we caused to those beasts was nothing in comparison with the fast healing ability of them... Unexpectedly a girl took lead of the players who were still fighting. That's how I met Asuna."

Kurou took a huge breath while we took in the information that we just found out. It was typical Asuna, she was good in creating great plans and to transfer them in reality. There was no doubt that was her. Asuna would do the best she can to change a horrible situation in order to save lives. Kurou continued his story.

"She gave us back hope… not to win, but to save lives. I was part of the group of players who stayed trying to get the attention of those monsters while some others evacuated the area. The whole town was destroyed. Nothing could be recognized anymore. The whole place covered in debris. Many of us still survived, that I'm really happy for. I was one of the persons who offered to stay as last, together with Asuna and Klein. They safely left the place, but I haven't seen them after that. It wasn't easy but I'm happy I could also escape without dying and as far as I know the monsters stayed at the town. I waited a while before leaving because I wanted to know what they would do now everyone had left. As strange as it might sound they didn't move an inch. They were just standing there, it was like they were waiting for someone to attack them."

"Hmm do you think they were waiting for an order?" Everyone looked at me; it was the first thing that came to mind when I heard this. Before anyone left, the monsters just randomly attacked the place. And I'm not talking about only the players, but also everything that surrounded them. Then why would they stop attacking as soon as everyone had left? It didn't make any sense to me. If they were just programs they would destroy the next thing they were able to destroy…or even kill…

"You're saying someone is controlling every move they make?"

"Well I can't say for sure, but it is a possibility I guess."

Kirito promptly changed the subject. "Did Asuna or Klein say anything about where they were going?"

Kurou shook his head. "No I'm sorry I wish I would."

I looked at Kurou when he spoke, but a strange shadow behind the window drew my attention. I immediately stood up and with a fastened pace I walked towards the front door. Again I had the feeling of being watched, someone was glaring at us, no doubt about it! What if it was the same person from yesterday? I had to find out.

"Sinon, where are you going?"

They all looked at me wondering what was going on. "Uhm oh it's nothing,… I'm just getting some air. I will be right back." I didn't want to tell them I had this feeling, I need to find it out myself before making everyone worry.

Unfortunately before I could reach the door of the bar the ground began to tremble making me fall on my knees while my hands touched the floor, that was cleaned not long ago. Not only the ground was trembling but also the whole bar was shaking. Bottles and glasses falling on the floor making it shatter into pieces. While windows broke apart, cabinets dropped and planks fell from above. In no time the whole place was a mess. Through the windows I saw people running and heard a lot of screaming. Suddenly I felt someone grabbing me under my shoulders and lifting me up.

"Listen! Everyone find cover!". Kirito spoke to all the people who were still in the bar. Most of the people crawl under some tables or under the bar protecting themselves from the falling objects. Kirito and I joined Liz and Kurou, who were also with their knees on the floor under a table. "Hey! What is happening?!" We all looked with confused faces. We hadn't any idea what will happen next, what made us fear for the worst. The shocks went on and on, but finally stopped after a while.

We crawled from beneath the wreckage and debris. The bar wasn't recognizable anymore. We stood in open air with a lot of dust surrounding us. The landscape seemed so much different and what stood out was a humongous structure we could see from far. We all looked amazed at this gigantic construction that was as high as you possible could see. The top covered in thick clouds. It was like a huge pillar with great architecture that had no end to it.

My head feels heavy and I looked at the others who were already lying unconscious on the debris. In a few seconds I also lost control over my body as everything went dark before my eyes.

* * *

I feel aware of my surroundings. I regained consciousness but somehow I couldn't open my eyes or move my body. I don't understand what is happening right know. I can't even lift a finger. My mind was the only thing that gave me hope I was still alive. What was the last thing I remember? That's right! The bar collapsed after an earthquake! Wait… can I call it an earthquake? That's probably not the right word for it… It was caused by that enormous structure that popped out of nowhere!

All of a sudden I stood between a huge crowd. I was more than confused. Everyone was wearing the same clothes while more people were transported in this area, appearing in blue shining lights. Brown loose sleeveless tops and long tight trousers, that were slightly darker than the tops. Boots till the knees and a hooded cape hanging on the shoulders. Man and woman…both the same…

It looks like we are in a centre of a town, which I have never seen before. A little fountain was placed in the middle in the square. Nobody knew what was going on. Everyone looked confused at the people around him or her. I looked left, right and turned around but I couldn't see a familiar face. Where are the others? Kirito, Lisbeth, Asuna, Klein? The mass of people got bigger and bigger, but I couldn't find the players who I hoped to see. People were screaming names; looks like the other players also couldn't find their friends or party members. A loud voice surprised me at the time the shining blue lights stopped appearing.

"May I have your attention please".

Players were looking at the direction where the loud and strong voice came from. The fountain became the centre of attention. A blue hologram of a person appeared in a large form precisely above it. The crowd was as still as it could be, no one who made a sound.

"Welcome to my world everyone, it may have took a while but everything is complete now and in the mean time you were very amusing to watch..."

"Let me introduce myself: I am Hikaru Nakamura! Able to hack 'Alfheim Online' and create this beautiful world instead. The world Akihiko Kayaba created isn't fully lost anymore! First of all… to the ones with puzzled faces. You may have suffered memory loss, but no fear your memories will come back in time. I have reset all your abilities; skills, items… well as you can discover yourself almost everything and your mind took in a lot of new information, which caused a lot of effort on your brain. As you can see you are now equal to the persons who are standing next to you."

Everyone looks frustrated at the hologram of the cruel person who made all this possible and who only could express a huge grin on his face while explaining the things they are now. We couldn't see his whole face though, it was covered by a hood he was wearing, but we finally had a person who we could blame for this mess! Hikaru Nakamura! His objective: creating a world similar as 'Sword Art Online'! Still I wonder why he is continuing Kayaba's work…

He pointed with his finger at the enormous construction that I recognized immediately. It was the last thing I remembered before appearing in this sick place.

"You have one mission: defeat the boss of the upper floor. Do that and you will be able to put an end to this game and leave it safely. Clear the dungeon on every floor that has a boss at the end and ascend the tower!"

I looked up at the huge construction, how many floors could there possibly be?! I can't even see the end of it! And he is asking us to clear it? No way that's impossible, right?! Well I guess he isn't letting us leave easily… What do you expect Sinon? That Hikaru guy put a lot of effort in creating this world, I can't expect him to just let us escape because we want him to…

"Let's start the game already shall we?! I will now transport you to a random place in the forest that lies in the mountain, from there on you can do whatever you like in this world. Survive and beat the boss. I wish you good luck my players!".

The hologram was slowly disappearing. Not long after that people where screaming. A lot was still unclear, many had a lot of questions they shouted, but I guess we had to find that out ourselves. Nobody could answer these questions anymore as the man who created this world had disappeared.

* * *

I landed in an area with a lot of trees that made the place dark. Fortunately there were streams of light between the leaves and open spaces between the trees, which made everything clear to see. I must have been transported to the forest like he said he would do. Hmmm which way should I go? He said the forest was in the mountains. I guess I should go back to the town. I need to go down then, but before I leave lets see what my condition is. I looked to my upper left. An empty bar which stated 'Lv. 0' and a full health bar.

"Great I lost all my experience and abilities".

I looked at the clothes I was wearing. It was the same as everyone else. I felt a knife at my belt and held it in my hands. I didn't notice it before. It's the only weapon I have on me right now. After searching through the menu that I opened with swapping my left hand I concluded that it was much the same as in ALO.

So…I need to descend the mountain to reach the city. The map in the menu only showed the little area I'm in right now, the other areas were just black spaces. That would be not much of help…. Let's see…. hmm I'm in a forest so there probably would be a river if I assume it's a big forest. It has to be… when we are with so many players. Then all I have to do is find the river and see which way the flow goes. That's a start, right?

In the bad worst scenario I can just follow another player around when I cross one… hoping he or she would now the answer to finding the town and is not just walking randomly like I'm going to do…. Aargh why can't I think clearly? Wait that's right! I slapped my hands together when I got an idea. As I closed my eyes I concentrated on my surroundings. Maybe I'm able to hear something. Other players? A flowing river? No…, I kept concentrating but could only hear the rustling wind through the trees. Then I suddenly realized something. I had good hearing skills in AlO, but that would be reset of course! While I thought of this my hands reached to my head feeling I had no longer cat ears like I did before. I got up and finally began to walk around the forest.

* * *

After hours of walking in I began to get tired, so I sat down on a rock next to a little lake with bright blue water in an open place. As I swept the sweat of my forehead I began to think what a huge forest this is. I already have been walking for hours and I haven't even walked into another player for so long. Am I heading the correct way? What if I'm going deeper in the forest and will never reach the town? Then I will die alone…huh? Well talking about the devil. I immediately jumped in the bushes behind me when I heard two other players running towards the lake and freshen up their faces. I thought it was a good thing to hide because you never know what kind of people you're going to encounter. It would be safer this way. I looked at the two young boys who were having a friendly talk. They probably just met each other.

Suddenly I got distracted by a sound of heavy breathing not far behind me. I quickly turned around to see a little green goblin with a blade in his hands. I stood up and ran away from it. When I reached an open field I stopped and noticed he had been following me.

"You have to be kidding me!"

I quickly took my knife with both of my hands and pointed it, like I would do with a gun, towards the mid-size goblin. The green thing was looking stupidly at me. What am I afraid of? It's just a little goblin. I could defeat it easily, right? Even if I am only 'Lv 0'. I sighted.

"Well here I go!" I ran towards the goblin trying to stab him with the knife that I held with my hands, but he easily avoided my attack by putting a step sideways. What is this? I can't even stab a little monster like that? I am to slow! I was amazed that I attacked this slowly, no wonder he dodged my attack so easily. I looked at his level, no surprise he's a higher level than me! A 'Lv. 2' sign appeared as I looked at the hideous thing. I have never fought with a knife but I was disappointed in myself that I couldn't even land a scratch on that ugly thing even if he was stronger than me. I kept stabbing and stabbing, but missed every time.

The goblin swung his arm backward. He is going to counter attack! I tried to block his blade with my knife. The touching of the metals made a clashing sound. With my squinting eyes I saw my knife slipping away from my hands, that because of the force blow that the blade caused, falling into the green grass. I stumbled backwards falling onto the ground. No way I'm going to lose against something you would call in ALO 'a low level monster'! Again he was going to attack me, swinging his arm once more while I was not able to defend myself anymore. I crossed my arms before me in order to protect myself.


	6. Chapter 6

I heard the clashing of metal before me. A human form stood right before me, wearing the same clothes as me while her light brown hair was swinging softly.

"Ah! You alright?!" With a strong force she pushed the goblin before her backwards. "Don't worry I'll handle this in no time". She swung her right arm while running towards the goblin and landed a scratch on its body, not fatal though. I was surprised there was blood that came out of his wound, that wasn't the case in 'Alfheim Online'.

The sunset blinded me a bit, but I could still see how the girl fought the green goblin elegantly, avoiding every counter attack and causing great damage to it with her strong moves.

Minutes later the fight ended with a stab at the place where the heart should be. While the injured goblin screamed he shattered into pieces that floated in the air. After putting her knife back a screen appeared before the girl, stating "congratulations! You defeated a goblin".

As the girl read the notification screen that appeared before her I guessed the goblin dropped some items. After touching the screen she stepped elegantly towards me, but not before grabbing the knife that I had dropped earlier.

"This is yours right?" She offered me my knife that she had picked up. Her hands putting it right in front of me. I looked at the piece of metal. "Uh y-yes, thank you!" I took the knife while bending a bit forward, showing my respect, and slowly looking up to see her face. As she stood before me she covered the sun that was blinding me before.

Her smile was heart warming. "Asuna!" I embraced her with my arms around her neck, causing her to stumble down at the same height as me. Amazed by the girl's attacks I hadn't taken a moment to stand up. I was so glad to see her. She was one of my dearest friends I met during the past year. I remember Kirito introducing me to her in a small but pleasant bar, where the whole gang usually gathered.

"Ah! Haha no need to thank me this much. I was happy that I was in time to save you". She put her hands on my shoulders and looked at me. "You are Sinon right? Nice to meet you." She placed her hand in front of me to greet me. "You are the first person I have seen around here. A big difference than the centre of the city isn't it?"

I am confused: why is she acting like this? She is greeting me as if she doesn't know me. Wait…she doesn't know me?! She must have a memory loss. The person in the square mentioned it! Although it would be a bit weird if she doesn't know me anymore while I do know her…

"Uhm you alright?"

"Uhm yes I'm sorry!" I gave her a handshake still not wanting to believe she had lost her memory. "You don't remember me do you?"

She gazed at me, it was like she was analysing my whole appearance.

"Uhm I'm sorry, I kind of don't remember anything before that person appeared in the city. Just some flashes that cross my mind sometimes. I have met you before?"

"Yes, we were in a party before all of this happened and we are also friends in real life. You really can't remember it do you?"

She shook her head. I saw that she was sad not remembering anything and maybe ashamed to not remember a friend. "But hey! That was amazing what you did right there. You defeated that goblin easily! I wish I was able to defeat him like that."

"Oh you flatter me, I guess I levelled up a bit. It kind of was already the third goblin I approached today to be honest. I also barely defeated the first one I encountered hehe, but you learn a lot out of it. So I guess it's just a matter of practice…. Do you want me to teach you? It's not like I'm in a hurry and hey maybe my memory will come back if I hang out with you."

I'm glad I succeeded in bringing a smile on her face. Besides I can't say no to her offer to train me a bit or to accompany me. I'm so weak I can't even defeat a single gobbling; hell I can't even damage it! She stood up and offered her hand to raise me up. I nodded affirmatively and grabbed her hand. She took a few steps back and looked at the open space that was surrounded by trees.

"Show me how you would attack." She turned around, took my knife and placed it in my hand.

"uhm okay…" I imagined a goblin right before me and tried to stab him like i did before. I glanced aside to Asuna, who looked very amused.

"You know you can do greater damage if you do it like this" She took her own knife and stood in a pose ready to fight, then swinging her arms that made the air move.

"It's important to hold the handle very strongly and move quickly so you can strike the enemy with a force blow. You have even more chance in hitting a monster like this than if you would try stab it. I would rather recommend stabbing it at a weak place".

I tried to repeat the way she moved. I kept repeating under her supervision. Asuna even proposed to be my opponent, so we trained together until the sun was under. Of course she would always win the battle. She is a strong player, but it was fun practicing with her. I missed this feeling I had being with her…after hours of grumbling walking in the forest I finally could express a smile on my face and have some fun with a friend who I hadn't seen in what seemed ages. The training didn't help me level up, but I learned a lot out of it. At least it gave me a boost in my stamina.

We sat down on the ground against each other's backs while we looked up at the sky where stars where shining brightly. "You're doing great! I see you are a fast learner. Lets defeat some goblins tomorrow!".

We both shattered out in laughter. We were really excited what tomorrow would bring, although we were tired because the training required a lot of energy. We had to rest to be in a good condition.

After making a fire we decided that one of us would stay awake while the other slept. It would be too dangerous if we both went to sleep, we could be attacked while not noticing it. We turned shifts in the middle of the night. I offered to stay awake when she first got some sleep; after all she was the one who was helping me.

I sat before the dancing fire and wrapped myself in the brown cloak I was wearing that gave me warmth while thinking of all that happened today. Suddenly a young boy appeared in my thoughts… His bright black eyes…his black soft hair…I hope he is fine…

* * *

"Hey Sinon! Wake up." While I slowly opened my eyes I saw Asuna sitting next to me. "Ah moring Asuna." While yawning I couldn't believe what a short nap I had. Well I think I must be grateful to have some sleep. If I hadn't run into Asuna I probably hadn't obtained any sleep at all.

Just like yesterday I was walking between these trees and bushes, but this time I had a friend who accompanied me. Oh right! I forgot to ask! "Asuna? You know where we are going right?" I was so busy with the training yesterday that it hadn't crossed my mind, although it was a very important fact.

"Were you just walking randomly around yesterday?"

Damn she noticed. I turned my face away from Asuna, who was walking right besides me. "Uhm n-no…of course not!" She laughed after my mumbling. "Haha, don't worry I was doing the same thing yesterday."

I was rather speechless after hearing those words and couldn't help but stare surprised at her.

"So you don't know where we are going either?" She glanced at me with a huge grin on her face. "Haha well not exactly right. I indeed was just walking around without knowing which way to go, but after a while I realized something. After I defeated the first goblin, I was able to use the menu where I found a map of this place. So if we keep walking this way, we should reach the town soon." She opened her map and let me had a look at it.

"Unbelievable"

"Yeah I know right, the players who haven't defeated a goblin yet will have no idea where to go."

"So if I defeat a goblin, I should also be able to open the menu?"

" I guess so,…Hey look at that!"

Huh? She pointed her finger at something that I couldn't really see very well as it stood half behind a tree and some bushes. A goblin! Now is my chance!

"Alright I will leave it up to you then, don't let me down Sinon!"

We totally have drawn the attention of the creature that was turning around and walking towards us.

"Ooh I won't. I definitely won't!" I took my knife and ran as fast as I could towards the green thing that was walking slowly. Asuna definitely gave me courage.

The thing screamed as the knife entered his body deeply, causing his health bar drop to yellow. Blood flow from the deep cut over his upper body. I injured it badly.

Again I landed an attack that dropped his health even more. I kept attacking until he was beaten and a screen appeared before me letting me know that I had defeated the goblin.

"All right! You did it!" Asuna came running to me and gave me a quick hug. "So what items did you get?"

I looked at the screen that we both could see. First of all I was happy to see the notification that I levelled up to lv.1 and beneath it the items that I received. I got a few coins from the fight.

"Hey Asuna, may I ask which level you are?"

"Uhm well I guess it's only fair when I now know yours. I'm a level 2 player, but don't worry I know for sure we would level up in no time!"

After taking a little break we walked further. Again we walked for hours, defeated some other goblins on the way and today we were able to see the giant construction as the vegetation slowly lessened and the trees were getting thinner. As the grass on this side was way much taller than usual and covering almost half our body, we slashed our way trough with our knives. The thickness of the grass didn't make it us easier, but in the end we managed to cut our way through. From here on we could see a clear sky. I felt Asuna's arm on my shoulder.

"Look at that! We made it!"

Standing at a cliff we had a view over a whole town. It is enormous! Unbelievable! We both looked amazed at it. It had a circular form and in the centre was an open place. That must be the place where all the players had gathered. A bit further the big tower was located, the construction rising above the mountains in the distance.

We heard some voices at our right. We both turned our faces to see other players sliding down the earth to reach downhill. It wasn't a mass of people, but time after time a few players kept appearing from the forest from all sides.

"Come let's find a place where we also can glide down. It's not a long walk from here on anymore." I grabbed Asuna's hand and ran at the side of the hill to find an area where we could safely go down. This must do it.

"You want to go first?"

"Uh-h well let's go together!" This time Asuna grabbed my hand and pulled me with her.

"Aah! Wait! Asuna!"

It was a whole way down, but we reached the bottom in no time and reaching the end by rolling on our sides.

* * *

The town's buildings looked like those in ALO and there were already a lot of players walking around. NPC's stood behind stables displaying all sorts of goods and they were calling after the people that walked by trying to sell something, what was rather annoying.

I haven't eaten in days, which made me longing for food. While thinking about all the delicious food my stomach began to grumble…great… well at least I'm not the only one who's stomach was grumbling. As I looked next to me Asuna looked away.

"Let's get something to eat, shall we?"

"Well I think that's a great idea!" She walked with a bended back with her arms hanging down while complaining that she wanted food. We bought a meal at the first food stand we came across. Fortunately it didn't cost too much coins, so we could afford a meal that satisfied our needs. On the other side, it didn't taste too well…leaving an awful taste in my mouth. At least we were not hungry anymore I said to my female companion who thought the same about the taste and who made a funny face, expressing her dissatisfaction.

It was slightly getting dark as we walked through the streets and the shop owners turned on the lights of their stalls and the streetlamps were also lightened up. It would be smart to find a place to stay before everything is closing. I rather wouldn't sleep outside again… I shouted to Asuna who was trying on some hats at a stall that was lasting like forever.

"Yes! I know, I know!"

Asuna gave back the hat she had on her head to the NPC, who stood behind the counter of the stall. Asuna hurried to me. I looked wondering at her.

"Did you buy something?"

"No of course not! You know I have not enough money to buy something like that."

The last part of the sentence was just some mumbling, but I knew what she said.

"Then what took you so long?!" I was kind of irritated by the long waiting when Asuna dragged me to all the long streets where she saw stalls. I let out a huge sigh. "Never mind, just hurry, we need to find a place to sleep tonight. We can't afford much but I do hope we can find something."

"Hmm Oh I remember! We crossed an inn along the way. C'mon follow me, it's not far from here." We ran back and I followed Asuna, who was running faster than me so she was far ahead of me. While running I looked at the crowd hoping to see someone familiar, unfortunately that wasn't the case.

"There you are, can't you run faster?" Asuna stood before a building where she was illuminated by the lights trough the windows.

Ugh I'm not going to answer that…you definitely know I'm not as fast as you. I looked with irritating eyes at her while heavily breathing and placing my hands on my knees. Asuna pushed the door open.

A little ring clang as we stepped into the inn. An NPC immediately welcomed us and led us to the counter. The place didn't seem too old or filthy, but also not fancy and expensive. It was somewhere in between. We needed a single room for two players, but when we saw the price…well it didn't make us happy… we couldn't afford it. It was way out of our budget. The NPC instantly make us leave the inn when she noticed we hadn't enough money.

When standing outside again a person spoke to us. Definitely also an NPC, he probably was spreading out flyers to persons who left the inn (I concluded when I saw the bundle paper in his hands). I accepted the little paper and read it "Affordable travellers hostel: this way ", there was also a little map on it that showed the way.

"Well I guess that's our last hope…I don't expect much of it though…"

The paper showed a red line as a route to the hostel, represented by a little square at the end of the line. Asuna and I followed the route while I held on to the map. As we reached the end of the street we were currently in, we took a left turn and then we went right. As we walked trough the streets the amount of light reduced to only a few streetlamps on the side. While I took the last turn I noticed that it was rather a dark and small alley.

When we stepped to the middle of it we finally stood before the spot where the hostel must be. A little building with a sign 'The travellers hostel' that hung not really straight above the door and was illuminated by a little lamp that hung above and that flickered from time to time. There were noticeable cracks in the windows that were partly covered by brown duck tape and the building itself seemed quite old and wore out.

I couldn't believe this was the place, even when I knew it wasn't going to be fancy, I didn't expect this. I really hoped it would be better than this. Well this must do it for tonight; I don't think we could find something else that we were able to pay. At least we can sleep inside.

I knocked at the door that opened with a little cracking. I felt Asuna behind me pulling my cloak. I glanced between the little opening when I noticed nobody stood behind the door. When I shouted carefully and not all to loud if someone was here I didn't get an answer.

Asuna whispered next to me that it may be abandoned and that we should better leave, but I didn't listen to her. I pushed the door slowly open to have a full view at the room inside and noticed a little desk with a lamp standing on it. I stepped closer to the only visible item in this dark room with Asuna close next to me. A little squeak came out of us when we suddenly saw an old man standing in the door opening at our left side. He was holding a little candle that lightened up his face.

"You need a room?" His grumpy old voice scared us a little but when we saw it was just an NPC that worked here we of course told him we wanted a room. A little screen appeared before us showing us the price of a one-night stay. I was taken back about the amount of money he asked us. 250 coins each! For real? That's the same amount of the dishes we ate today.

After transferring the money the grey haired man, who wore a pair of glasses and a dark green shirt with black ties, showed us the way to our room. A really small staircase brought us to the floor above where the man stopped before a door somewhere at the end of a hallway and made a sign for us to enter while leaving afterwards. Two other players excited a room as they were headed downstairs. I was glad too see them, that gave me the feeling that we weren't alone in this creepy place. I placed my hand on the door which made the door open. Two old mattresses lay on the floor with no blanket or pillow on it and took the whole space of the room. Asuna closed the door as she entered the room. The room wasn't filthy or so, it was just very old and did not give a warm or comfortable feeling. That's the price we paid for, no wonder it was so cheap…

The mattress didn't felt very comfortable and it had a weird smell to it that caused me a difficult time to sleep, but I got a bit used to it after already spending a few hours in this room. I hear raindrops falling on the window , so I'm glad I didn't have to sleep outside.

* * *

I had a look outside. The sky looked grey and large puddles of water were covering the street. I turned my face to the girl who was sleeping on the other mattress, still deep asleep. Let's not wake her up, she must be very tired after the long day we had. After descending the stairs I stepped outside to have a walk.

A cool breeze blew before me as I opened the door of the hostel. Even if it was daytime, the small alley still seemed dark. My boots made splashing sounds as I walked through the streets of the city. I needed some air after staying in that duff room all night and on the other hand I wanted to gather some information about places where Asuna and I could defeat some monsters, since that's what we talked about yesterday evening.

Levelling up and becoming great players so we could enter that dungeon and fight our way up, but of course we couldn't go back to the forest. I remember the steep hill where we glided off yesterday, no way we could climb that…. maybe it was even the intention of the one who made this world…. with those hills we aren't able to help the players who are still stuck in the forest, what was our first idea.

I hope Kirito left the forest. If he already did he would be in the same city, so maybe I will be able to see him soon. While thinking about him I began to hum and a smile was appearing on my face. I caught myself being so joyful all of a sudden. Did he cause it? An image of Kirito popped up in my mind. I shook the thoughts out of my head and walked a bit faster.

I reached an open place that I recognized in an instance. The city centre! Groups of players sat on benches or on the side of the fountain, all having a talk, but one group stood out. They were not wearing the clothes like all of the other players wore. They actually looked battle-ready: armor, swords, and shields. It didn't look like it was high quality, but it sure was an improvement of what the others and I were wearing. Did they already gather enough money to buy equipment?

I would like to ask them all kind of stuff, but that wasn't like me. I wasn't the kind of person who would but in in other peoples business, I rather did things on my own. While I walked past them I heard them talking about the place they were going. It looked like they found a good raiding spot not far from the city; it was on the way to the huge dungeon.

I remember looking over the city when I was standing on the cliff near the forest. Past the city was a huge open field with just some small trees standing lonely in the place.

I went back to the hostel where I saw Asuna sitting alone behind a round wooden table at the dining place. When she noticed me she looked at me with confusing and relieved eyes. "You came back!" While she ran towards me she hugged me very strongly.

"I-I thought you left me". I heard her voice cracking. Yeah I left without saying anything, but I never thought she would become this emotional and that she would think like that.

"Wha- Asuna… you know I would never do that…" All of a sudden I became aware of the fact that I had not considered her memory loss. All the time I was with her she just looked like her old self, which made me forget the memory loss she was suffering. "I'm sorry that I left without giving you a warning…".

"No- I'm sorry! I shouldn't have come to these conclusions! I'm glad you came back."

"I didn't want to wake you up, you seemed to sleep very peacefully"

"No-really it's okay, I don't know why I even had these thoughts…"

After I told Asuna about the place, that I have heard earlier, we left immediately to the spot.

* * *

Another one to your left I yelled at Asuna who stood left from me. After swinging her knife backwards she caused a force blow to the midsection of the green gobbling which caused to drop its health enormous. Just another few attacks and she would be able to finish the battle. The goblins in the field were the same as those in the forest; only in this place they wore helmets and some other small armor around their little body. Their strength was also much greater and their levels higher.

I defended myself against the gobbling that was running towards me, I pushed him back which made him fall on the ground and I quickly jumped on it to push him down and to stab him in the heart. I didn't have much time to look at the window that appeared before me as another goblin was already coming towards me. Asuna and I kept fighting those monsters; there was no end to them. They were respawning very quickly, but we were not the only players in the field so it was doable. It wasn't like there was a whole mass of goblins coming at one player at the same time. The group I saw earlier was here too.

"Hé Sinon! A big one coming your way!"

I looked up after I defeated another goblin. This one seemed a little stronger than the rest. It was at least one head taller than the others and came at me with an incredible speed. I also began to run towards it and was able to land a huge scratch at his side as I crossed him. I have an opening now! I immediately turned around to stab him in the back and I put all the weight I had on the knife as I pushed it downwards. The goblin let out a loud scream. While turning around he tried to hit me with his axe he had as a weapon. He swung it sideways. While I ducked to avoid the attack I swiped my knife to land an attack at his legs and rolled over to get a distance between us. The goblin fell on the ground and I was able to hit him a few times more. His health kept dropping and dropping until his bar was empty. He was defeated.

We kept coming to this place for days, so we were able to level up each day and were able to find a stable income for the two of us.

* * *

With the money we earned we bought new armor, weapons and clothes. It already has been two weeks since we were transported to this place, but we still haven't entered that dungeon…

Asuna and me weren't the only ones…many players didn't dare to enter the big tower when a group of players, who were in full armor and were recognized as really strong players, didn't came back after they went to the tower. They were the first ones who entered that dungeon.

The rumour that players were heading to the tower spread fast, it was known all over the town. Everyone spoke about the group of five players, who were brave enough to enter the dungeon. But these rumours began to turn negative when they didn't hear from them after days. They didn't come back… what only made us conclude they were defeated in that dungeon by who knows what sort of monster.

Is it because they hadn't enough defence power? Or did those players lack strength or manpower? Did they underestimate their enemy? Many questions where running trough my head, but all I can say is that no one wanted to gamble their lives at an unknown area. There were a few other players that risked their lives by going into that dungeon, but we never heard anything from them either.

After a long day fighting goblins, I sat at the edge of a wall from a bridge that was above a passageway between some buildings. I gazed at the sunset.

I heard a loud scream. Footsteps were coming closer…faster and faster. Before I knew it a man was running like hell in the passageway beneath me. When he left the shadows of the bridge I watched him running further. I wonder why he is in such a hurry… The man quickly shifted his head to me as he noticed my presence but kept running forward.

"I'm back!" I turned my head back to see Asuna standing before me with a bag of groceries that she just bought in a shop nearby.

"you sure took your time…"

"Really? Well who do you think does the cooking all the time?" Asuna looked at me with a teasing smile.

"Yeah, yeah, come on now, let's head back to our place. I am starving you know." Asuna chuckled at my reaction.

"Before we do that I want to check on something if that's alright?"

She wondered what I was talking about. I told her I heard someone screaming just now and I would like to check if that person was all right. It may have been nothing, or something stupid, but still I had a bad feeling about this. She agreed to check it out and we went to the place I heard the screaming come from.

I widened my eyes as I saw a person bleeding on the ground of a small alley nearby. We immediately tried to help the person as we saw he was still alive, but it was too late when we reached him. He tried to stay strong, but unfortunately he died from a great amount of blood loss.

Crime was rising in this town. More people were killed every day that passed by. I can't believe there are players who still are able to do this. Everyone here is in the same situation, we should help each other instead of killing each other. But of course my opinion can't change the fact all of this is happening.

* * *

I took off my greenish cloak and put it on the couch where I took a seat when we arrived at the small building. With the coins we collected from the monster drops we were able to buy this building after some time. It doesn't look like much, but this was our humble little place, decorated with the cheapest furniture we could buy. At least it was a big improvement in comparison with 'The travellers hostels'.

Asuna headed to the kitchen to prepare a meal. She did that as good as everyday. She was able to bring her cooking skills to max level, which is much better compared to me. I did some cooking too but it was merely ever as good as hers. I often let her do the main cooking while I helped her with the simple things. That way she was satisfied too.

The next day Asuna and I went to a place where players could put requests on a board. When accepted they pay a sum of money to the ones who completed the task as a reward. A lot of them came from shopkeepers who needed items to produce something they could sell. As we entered the place the man who was the head of this building welcomed us.

He was the guy that made sure the info was up-to-date and knew as good as everything what was going on in town, that was one of the reasons people called him The Eagle. If you had a question there was a great possibility he was the one to answer it. He had the appearance of a 25 year old man, always wearing his longue white hair in a ponytail and he had glasses. A white blouse covered his chest, while his pants and longue jacket were dark coloured. He was a bit taller than me.

I looked at the back where his assistances were busy with putting new requests on the board, removing the old ones and some of them were collecting the items from players who completed a quest and gave them their rewards.

"Hello girls, did the previous quest go well?" He came to us with his charming smile. He did know all the players that come here.

"Oh yeah we got some nice items from the monster drops, but killing goblins is really getting annoying! Don't you have a nicer quest for us that doesn't involve goblins this time?"

He gave a small laugh before he said the other quests already had been taken. Guess we were too late again for a quest that didn't involve those green creatures and that was related to our levels.

"Ah that's okay, we then will just have a look at the board."

"Alright take your time, maybe you should try to come a bit earlier to this place." He waived when he turned around.

I had a look at the board. Like he said a lot of goblin requests, well that's because they dropped an important item that was required for making weapons and a lot of blacksmiths asked for it. There were also a lot of missing persons messages between them and requests from guilds who were looking for strong players to join them. On the other side of the wall were sheets of paper hanging on a board with faces of criminals who were spotted in the city committing a crime with a large sum on their head. Some people hunted them down and locked them in the prison underground the city. The reward was a great amount, at least five times bigger than a quest for defeating the goblins. The amount depended on the crime.

One of Eagles people stood next to me and put an announcement of a new criminal on the board, while Asuna went to the counter to trade the items we collected yesterday for coins.

The photo resembled a man with spiky hair and stubbles looking with a displeased expression on his face.

"That's him"

The woman next to me looked surprised that I recognized him. "You know him?"

"Not really. I saw him running away a day ago... after killing a player." I never got used to the fact this really was happening.

"Well It probably wasn't his first time…we have seen this kind of killing before; finally someone spotted him during the crime" She let out a sigh. "They never stop do they?" She stared at the papers in her hands. Everyday she sees people who turned into criminals and she's confronted with the fact that people were dying day after day.

"Now that we can put a face on him I'm sure someone will hunt him down."

"Ah yes! Of course, you're right. Excuse me I have to put these up before my break." She went to the other board and again began to pin the papers.

"Found a quest for us?" Asuna got back from the trading counter and stood behind me with her hands at her back.

"Uh yeah… I think I got something we could do today."

We had a seat at a table, where I opened a map of the city.

"You are going to look for her again?" I looked at Asuna who was rather disappointed. She still didn't remember me or any of her friends, not even Kirito. She only agreed looking for them because she said it may bring her memory back, but I think she is just doing it for me… I know she will be happy to see them again, but she hadn't really the motivation to look for them while she hadn't a single memory of them. I wonder if the others were looking for us too, but maybe they also had a memory loss like Asuna.

"We haven't been on this side of the city, I think we have a good chance to find her."

I pointed at some shops further away in the city. I thought the easiest person we could find was Liz, as she probably would open a blacksmith shop. We already visited many shops, but the city was very big with a lot of shops that made the possibility for us to find her difficult.

"I don't want to make you upset or something, but did you think about the possibility that she's not running a shop? We already have been to so many shops. I think we could spent our time more useful."

She had a point, but I didn't want to give up, at least not yet anyways. It is true we could use our time more useful, like fighting monsters to collect some money. How would I react if I didn't know any of them? I told Asuna all sort of stories we went trough, who they were and how they were like. Our time in ALO and in real-life…

" It's not that I'm not curious about meeting them you know , it's just that I…"

"No, it's okay. Listen there are enough quests on the board, you will be fine without me right?" I folded the map and stood up.

"You're going to look for her alone?"

"Well I know I can't obligate you to come with me. By the way I think I would react the same way if I didn't have a single memory of them. So you don't have to worry about me, I will be fine."

"Alright then, be careful okay? With all those criminals around I don't want anything to happen to you." She stood up and went to the board to look for a quest.

I put my hand on her shoulder before leaving "Same goes for you".

* * *

 **So that was chapter 6! Not much of SinonxKirito in this chapter, but I'll make up for that in later chapters ^^**

 **I hope everyone is still enjoying the story. Chapter 7 will be soon out.**


	7. Chapter 7

I was walking under a clear blue sky with a warm feeling on my skin thanks to the bright sunlight. I entered the area where the blacksmith shop should be somewhere. I looked at the map. I noticed two crossed swords hanging above a door a few building further from me. That should be it! I walked up a set of steps before entering the building.

A woman came trough the door behind the counter as soon as I entered.

"Hello there, how can I help you? Are you here to get your weapon fixed?"

The girl behind the desk had bright braided pink hair and was wearing her workers outfit.

"I'm actually looking for someone, I was hoping maybe you could help me? Of course if you have time?"

"Sure have a seat, it doesn't look like I have any customers at the moment, so who is it you are looking for?"

"Well, do you know a female player that goes by the name 'Liz' or 'Lisbeth'? It's possible she's running a blacksmith shop herself."

She thought about it for a moment, but her answer only disappointed me. "I'm sorry, I have never heard of that name. There are a few blacksmith shops in the neighbourhood, I believe there are three of them, but the owners are all male players".

The girl stood up and pointed the other shops at a map that hung at the wall. "I'm sorry I couldn't be much of help."

No luck this time either, it was already the fifth shop I entered today and still no sign of Liz. I looked at the map; the city was huge, there were still so many places I have never been. The huge amount of shops made it difficult to find the right blacksmith.

As I left the shop a little boy immediately came running to me and stood before me with a big smile on his face.

"Do I know you?" I asked the little player.

"Nope!"

"Then… Is there anything I can help you with?"

The boy kept silent as I looked around to see no one accompanied this kid. I don't know what he wants from me, but he is sure wasting my time. As I walked past him he pulled my cloak a bit. I looked at him with a confused look on my face.

"T-That man! He told me to give this to you!" He stretched his arms out with a folded paper in his hands. I grabbed the little paper and folded it open.

 _-I finally found you. Meet me at the abandoned warehouse at 8 p.m. I can't wait to see you again.-_

"Who gave this to you?"

The boy pointed his finger at a small alley on the other side of the street. I immediately ran to the place he pointed. Maybe I could still catch up with that person?

I ran trough the little alley where at the end of it I descended a stone staircase. I saw a few trees and bushes covering the area and a river flowing downwards, but I'm not seeing anyone around as I looked around me. The boy said a man gave this to him. The thought of it being from Kirito or Klein immediately popped up in my mind. The way it was written; I'm sure this person knows me.

I ran with the river right beside me. I remembered from the map that there were a few abandoned buildings, due to their poor state.

 _Meet me at the abandoned warehouse…._

An abandoned warehouse… I think I know the place. I've red about it before and I remember the place from the map. Long ago it was a part of this lively city, but one day some knights attacked it. Apparently the knights were attacking out of rage, as their master was killed in a fight. They claimed the warehouse and the buildings around it; making the citizens flee. All the buildings in that area were now abandoned. The area was advised to be off-limits for players without the required level. For the other players it was a good training spot, but they were advised to only train in the abandoned buildings around the warehouse and not the warehouse itself. It is said that the knights and their underlings heavily defend the warehouse.

I guess the knights really want to protect their castle. I wonder why someone wants to invite me there. I looked at the time…'7.30 p.m'.

… _at 8 p.m. I can't wait to see you again…._

Is it possible that it could be Kirito? Arhg don't get your hopes up Sinon. Anyone could have written that letter. Maybe it is even a bad idea to go.

Even though I knew it was just a small possibility it came from the one that I hoped it did, my heart kept beating faster every second. What if I could see him again? I can't pass this chance. Although I must keep an eye on my surroundings, why didn't he just meet me as soon as he saw me? Why meet me all the way over there? It is kind of suspicious… or maybe there is a good reason…

I arrived at the place people would often call 'The Lost City'. The buildings were in a horrible state, some even already have collapsed. The vegetation was growing on the walls and hanging out of broken windows.

I ran to the centre and entered a big building. The doors made a cracking sound as soon as I pushed them open. It was dark inside. Fortunately I could see enough to avoid bumping into something.

I heard someone coming closer. I drew my sword. Two armored skeletons appeared in the entrance. Must be the guardians of the place. One health bar and … lv 25. Rumors were right; for players with lower levels they wouldn't be easy to defeat.

But nothing I couldn't handle. After defeating them I entered an open place. This place was a bit better lightened; thanks to the light beams trough the broken windows above me. The whole place was a mess: debris and destroyed items everywhere.

"I have been waiting for you"

I looked up to see a man leaning on the rail of the staircase on the floor above. I couldn't see his face very well, but it sure wasn't the person I hoped to meet. I didn't recognize his voice as he descended the stairs and came closer to me. He stepped into a beam of light. He grinned at me.

"Ooh you don't recognize me? I've waited for this moment for a while now. Since the day I saw you I've been eager to see you again." He grabbed a knife from behind his back. "Listen this is nothing personal, maybe you just happened to be at the wrong time, wrong place. Things like that happen you know. It is just that I can't forget that cute face of yours. Now let me make this quick and easy, don't you agree?"

He stepped closer to me. I slowly stumbled back. What is he talking about? He aimed his knife at me and made a fast move at me. The sharp item pointing at the place of my heart.

In the small gap of time before he landed the attack I blocked his knife with my sword. I was scared but I didn't let it overtake me. I didn't want to die. I prepared myself for a situation like this.

"Don't underestimate me! You think that because I'm a girl I can't defend myself? What do you want from me?!"

"You're putting up a fight ha?! I won't recommend it!" With his other hand he pulled another knife and swiped it towards me. I barely avoided the sudden attack that I had not seen coming.

"I must commit I didn't think you would avoid that. The most players I killed weren't able to postpone their deaths."

Killed? His face… could it be him? I think I saw him a few days ago as he fled when he just killed a player… the man on the bulletin board.

I saw a red indicator next to his name.

The images of that poor man lying lifeless on the ground suddenly came back to mind. "Y-You killed people?"

I swung my sword at him but he jumped back. "Aah so you do know who I am."

"You're a damn murderer that's who you are! Why did you ask me to come to this place?!"

I again swung my sword at him. He blocked my attack with his knives. His grin stayed on his face; it looked like he was enjoying this. Unbelievable!

Our blades pushed each other. I can feel he's greater in strength, if I keep fighting like this I can't win.

A huge pain struck me while he pushed me backwards with his knee in my abdomen. His enormous strength managed to push me into the wall behind me. This actually did hurt badly. I swept the red fluid from my lip away.

"Why are you trying to kill me?" I struggled standing up.

"Why do you ask? Can't you figure that out yourself?" He pointed one of his knifes at me.

"That day…you saw me after I had just killed that stupid player. I looked at you sitting there on that bridge, unaware of what happened, but you still had a glimpse of fear in your eyes. Since that day I could only picture your beautiful innocent face in my head. I couldn't wait to really meet you… Besides thanks to you my face is being spread in the whole town. If I knew this would happen I would have killed you right away. Everyone is after me. Now isn't it only fair to kill you?"

I grit my teeth. How dares he? Talking about this with no shame or regret at all. He is crazy! I aimed my sword at him as I quickly stepped forward.

As he jumped aside he avoided my attack and immediately counter attacked by sliding his knife alongside my arm. Trough the cut fibre, blood splattered from my arm onto the ground. I screamed as the sharp metal penetrated my arm. It hurt like hell!

"Hé listen it was really fun playing with you, but I have some other jobs to do. I have to disappoint you but I'm going to make this quick."

He is a strong opponent. I heard him stepping closer behind me. I feel the energy is flowing out of me. I had a quick view to my health bar that was dropping every second due to loss of blood, but I can't give up now.

I turned around as fast as I could while swinging my sword sideways. I knew it wouldn't be lethal, but I did know I was able to injure him while he was standing close to me.

As I turned around I saw I had cut his upper cloth, soon afterwards his shirt coloured with the blood through his wound.

"Tshj! You little-!"

I immediately stumped him backwards with my feet in his abdomen. It didn't have much effect at his health, but in my advantage he did stumble over a rock behind him causing him to fall onto the ground and he had let go of his knives while he fell.

While he sat on the ground I pushed my sword trough his shoulder. He screamed it out from the pain. He grabbed at the blade of my sword what made his hands bleed too. He tried to push the metal weapon out of him. His painful expression turned into a smirk.

How can he still smile at a moment like this? I looked surprised at the man who still wasn't giving up.

"You can't kill me do you? You're as weak as I thought. If you aimed at my chest I would already be dead! … What? Did you think I would give up? Stop killing if you defeated me? I wouldn't have hesitated you know! I would have killed you in an instance!"

What is this? He can still put up a fight after my sword penetrated his shoulder? He must go through a lot of pain right now. The idea of me killing him… I don't want to be a murderer. Please stop!

He pushed the sword out of his shoulder while screaming. He stood up and grabbed my wrist. He squeezed forcefully causing me to drop the sword. With his other hand he aimed at my neck. He pushed me hardly with my back onto the staircase, behind me. His hand had a force grip on my neck. I struggled and tried to push him away but it was no use. He was too strong.

It was getting hard for me to breath. All I could see was he enjoying the moment when he is about to kill someone. Tears fell from my eyes. I can't stand too look at him anymore. I closed my eyes. My mind was telling me to not give up, but what could I possibly do? He is draining the life out of me.

My fingertips touched something cold next to me. A piece of glass from the shattered window above me. I picked it up and with the strength I had left I pushed it hard against his head. I saw his eyes widening as he cried hard. The force blow caused him to bump against the rail of the staircase. His hands went to his head. He was distracted with the pain. I quickly pushed him of me.

I hardly had any strength to stand up, but somehow I did manage to almost reach the top of the stairs while I heard him cursing and coming after me. When I turned around I saw him above me trying to hit me with a rock he had picked up. I kicked him with my feet. He stumbled back but managed to grip the rail of the staircase.

"Aargh! You are so going to pay for this!"

I hurried to the floor above and then I ran with the rail of the stairs on my left side. I need to get away from him. A pain struck me and I fell on my knees. I looked at the knife that had penetrated my left leg.

There he stood grinning like a mad man. Looking with eyes like a predator. I grabbed the knife and pulled it out of me.

"Can't you just leave me alone?!"

He threw another knife at me. I immediately avoided the attack. The knife flew inches further from my face, but before I knew it he already stood before me. I tried to stab him with the knife I held in my hand, but he was faster. He grabbed my hand and pushed me hard against the wall. The knife fell.

"Well well you know how to put up a fight, don't ya?"

His eyes widened as he heard the sound of walking bones behind him. In an instance he turned around and he blocked the attack of the skeleton guardian.

"What are you doing here?! I already cleared this side of the warehouse when I came here."

He pushed the skeleton guardian against the rail of the staircase that broke and the bones crashed on the floor below. The man turned around and faced me.

"W-What the hell!"

The man tried to hang on to something, but failed.

I looked at him falling down while he cursed. A loud bang echoed.

I descended the stairs and I stood next to his body. He coughed up some blood. He wasn't dead, but his health is dropping fast.

"Why are you just standing there?! My health is dropping rapidly! Hell if you don't do something I'm going to die!"

The man could barely move his own body and had a look of fear in his eyes. He was scared to die. He probably used all his health potions when he cleared this part of the warehouse.

"I don't see a reason to help someone like you; for all I know you keep killing innocent people."

That was a fact I'm sure of. He is dangerous. If I don't stop him he just keeps killing more people.

"So that's how it is, then you have the guts after all…you murderer."

The man grinned as he said his last words before disappearing in shattered pieces. A notification window appeared right before me confirming that I murdered a player. That one word was hurting me. I murdered him.

My breathing became heavier while my heart is beating faster. The image of me pushing him repeated in my head. This feeling is killing me. I embraced myself while my emotions took control over me. I screamed the mixed feelings I had of anger, fear and regret out of me while my tears were falling on the gravel beneath me.

I stayed in a surrounding building of the warehouse. I tried to stay as far away of the place where I killed that criminal. Seeing the red indicator next to my name was a horrible sign that remembered me of that moment. If someone saw it ... and Asuna is probably worried like hell by now. Still I can't face her, not after what I've done.

For these last days I stayed here in one of those abandoned buildings hoping the red sign would disappear, but unfortunately it isn't. I can't stay here forever. I must do something…it is not like I can survive here, but at this moment I didn't know what to do. I have never been in this situation.

I'm a murderer right now and I can't stop thinking about killing him. Every time this memory of mine replayed in my head and I felt so horrible.

As the sun went down the night arises. I decided to go back. I must let Asuna know that I'm all right. I don't know how to tell her this, but I just hope she will not hate me after this.

* * *

I ran through the dark streets with my cloak over my head and my scarf covering most of my face. The streetlights were off. Everyone is probably asleep by now. This is my chance to contact Asuna.

As I almost reached the building Asuna and I stayed in I heard some footsteps approaching. I immediately hid myself behind a corner of a building.

I glanced at the players walking by. One male and one female. That outfit… I recognize that emblem! Those are members of The Black Roses, an enormous guild with strong players as members. I can even say that they are the biggest guild. They managed recently to enter the dungeon with coming back alive. They wrote a little book about the monsters on the first floor and published it. But that is not my main concern now! They are also bounty hunters. They search criminals to put them behind bars. I can't let them catch me.

After they took a turn I ran as silent as I could away from the direction The Black Rose players were headed, but it looked more of them were patrolling this area.

I ran trough streets I have never been while trying avoiding them. I'm in a disadvantage here. It was a bad idea coming here…

I cursed as I stumped against something while running, what made a loud noise. There were members of the guild nearby. I heard someone shouting behind me. They noticed me! I ran as fast as I could, trying to escape them, but they followed after me.

Shit! Dead end! A metal black fence between the walls of buildings blocked my way while they were coming faster.

I stepped a few steps back and jumped as I grabbed some horizontal bars of the fence and tried to pull me up to go over it. The pointy objects above the fence ripped parts of my clothes. As I jumped over it I saw another Black Rose member running towards me. Damn they have me countered! I looked back at the players behind me to see them reaching the fence. Can't go back now. The other one was coming close too. Maybe I can run past him and avoid him if I'm fast enough…. I didn't have much of a choice. I need to escape from here.

I tried to swap past him. He missed trying to grab my arm with his hand, but instead he grabbed my cloak that swung behind me in the air. As he pulled me closer to him he grabbed one of my waists and pushed it on my back, while his right hand pushed my right shoulder hard until I was against the wall. The cold stones touched my face.

His victory pleased him; I could hear it in his voice. "Did you really think a criminal could slip past me?"

His friends on the other side of the gate told him he did a great job and told him to wait. They ran back to take another passageway, now he and I were alone in this dark alley.

"So what did you do to have that red mark right there?" His right hand pulled down my hood that I wore to hide my face.

His tone of his voice turned into a surprised tenor. "You have got to be kidding me."

His grip on me loosened as I glanced back at the young man standing behind me with a shocked look on his face. A red and black bandana, like the colours of his outfit, held up his spiky reddish hair on his forehead.

He wasn't the only one who was surprised. I whispered his voice "Klein…".

"Sinon… Listen I'm glad to see you're okay and all and I would like to chitchat with you a bit more, but as you probably noticed this isn't the situation for it."

When he let go of me I turned around, quiet ashamed that I'm seen like this, especially by a friend. I stared down at his feet, not able to look him in the eyes.

"What are you doing? Don't just stand there. Hurry up before the others come!"

I looked up at him "But…you…"

"C'mon go already, don't worry about me. I'll think of something. You have to get out of here right now!" He gave me a push in the back. "Keep running straight until you see a bar at a corner and then turn left. You would be safe there. We are only surveying this part of the city tonight."

He kept pushing me forwards "I'll see you again alright".

Just like Klein, always thinking about his friends. He doesn't care if he could get in trouble because of helping me. I didn't want him to sacrifice himself, but I didn't have much of a choice and I truly think he would talk his way out of this.

"Thanks Klein".

As I ran away I saw him winking his eye and waiving goodbye with a bright smile.

I saw the bar as I walked straight forward and then turned left. It should be safe around here. I slowed my movements. The city lights were off.

I was able to run away from the patrolling guild members, only because of Klein. I still can't believe it. I never thought I would meet him like this in this world.

I sat on one of the benches on an empty little square. This was exhausting. What should I do? Wait here? He said we would meet again, but what did he mean by that?

Cold damp came out my mouth as I sighted. It was very chill. I put my hands in my pocket. I suddenly felt something I couldn't recognize right away. It sure wasn't something of mine. My pockets were empty if I remember it well. It felt like some paper.

I took the little document out of my pocket to notice an address written down on it, along with Klein's name. Is this where he's staying? I opened the map. The place is nearby. I didn't notice him putting this in here.

* * *

I entered the apartment building. It's on the third floor… I put the paper away as I memorized the room number.

I knew he wasn't there but I still knocked on the door. It looked like the door wasn't locked.. I put off my shoes and stepped on the soft carpet. I turned the lights on and looked around. I saw a living room that reminded me so much about real-life. The open kitchen was on the left and a few seats on the right side of the room around a fireplace. There was another door next to the kitchen. A large bed right before me and a closet to my right. The door on the left side of the room was probably the one to the bathroom.

When I got back to the living room I took a seat in one of the dark blue coaches. I lied down on my back and closed my eyes. This felt like a long day. Who would have thought Klein would be in The Black Roses' guild. It certainly suits him searching for criminals and putting them behind bars.

He didn't judge me when he saw the red mark. I wonder what he must be thinking… No Sinon don't think like that. He wouldn't have let me go if he thought I killed someone cold-blooded, right?

All sort of thoughts entered my mind.

* * *

I opened my eyes slowly. My arm was swinging slightly. I felt an arm under my back and a hand on my legs. A black fabric swung above me.

"K-Klein?! What is- What are you doing?!"

"Oi Sinon you're awake?"

"Why- why are you carrying me?"

"We need to move. They have made the search area for red players bigger." "You know... I have told them that you beat the hell out of me. That was the only thing I could think of when I let you escape hehe, but I didn't expect that they would make a big deal out of it. They first couldn't believe that someone like you could overpower me… but I kind of convinced them."

"Yeah…well I'm very thankful for that, but you don't have to carry me. I'm not asleep anymore. I can walk on my own."

I struggled so that he had to let me go. "You could have wake me up you know."

"Ahh I'm sorry, but you really looked tired. I didn't want to wake you up. " He went with his fingers trough his hair.

"Where are we going?"

I looked around to see that we were in some sort of tunnel and heard water dropping in the distance that echoed. I think we are in a mine, but I have never been here before.

"You can't stay with me, it's too dangerous. Not only for you but also for me."

"I know… Wait...Are you going? But there is so much I want to ask you…"

"Hey… don't be sad now. I'm sure we could have a long talk…just not now… I have to get back before they notice I'm gone."

"Then you are going to drop me in this old creepy place?"

"Oh man … I hope he isn't going to be mad at me…."

"What did you say?..."

"Uhm it's nothing. Listen I need you to go alone from here on. "

I looked at him with a puzzled face. "What? How do I know where I must go?"

He pointed his finger deeper in the tunnel and put a hand on my shoulder. "Go straight ahead, take a left at the second intersection. Keep walking until you reach the fourth ladder and climb up. If you're up there…uhm…keep walking until you reach a door. I can better go back before they notice I'm gone."

"H-hey! Wait…!"

Klein immediately ran off and shouted his goodbye. He really is abandoning me in this rotting place…. I don't even know where I'm going exactly. I don't really have much a choice. I'm glad he is helping me, but I didn't want to be in this place alone.

Some old lamps that hung on the walls lighted the tunnel. I could see my shadow reflecting on the ground. In the walls were some big holes that you could reach by climbing the ladders. They were on different heights: some were just above my head and some very high up.

It should be easy to get lost in here. I have to make sure I follow Klein's instructions very carefully.

This must be the one I guess. I looked up the ladder, which I guessed was the one Klein had talked about. I grabbed the metal rungs and climbed all the way up. I think the length must be two times higher than an average building. I crawled onto the surface. Another passageway, only this time it was smaller. Exactly made to fit the length of a human. It was darker than beneath.

I'm almost there, I only have to find the room Klein was talking about.

I already walked for about five minutes after I climbed up the ladder without seeing a door. I hope I'm not in the wrong place….

For a moment I stood still and looked behind me. The tunnel was empty and it was quiet silent. I could only hear the sound of water drops. I didn't feel very comfortable in this place. I walked deeper in the tunnel but sometimes I couldn't help to glance behind me.

At some point I saw a vague shadow running trough the tunnel. I was on my guard and looked precisely before me. I'm not alone here. I carefully grabbed the knife that hung on my belt.

Immediately after grabbing the knife someone knocked me onto the ground with power. My knife slides away from me as I fell on the ground. A person was holding me down with his strength. His left arm was on my upper back pushing me down. The weight of his body lay above me. I saw a knife coming closer to my face, it stopped right before my neck, just a few inches away.


End file.
